The Melancholy of Sora Kazano
by Tsukisamu Sayako
Summary: Meet Roxas Uchiyama, your average boy just entering high school. Having abandoned his beliefs in the supernatural, Roxas is in for a loop when he meets the eccentric Sora Kazano. Can Roxas survive his first year in high school? AU Roxas/Sora
1. Welcome to High School

**Chapter 1 – Welcome to High School…**

* * *

High school. The mere thought of the words sobered my mind. For me, high school is a time for a reality check. It's a time for transition from the fantastical imaginative days of middle school to the realistic materialistic days of post-school life. So, following the tradition of becoming a high school student, I abandoned my silly fantasies of my childhood and accepted the reality of life as truth. After all, aliens, time travelers, and psychics simply don't exist. I often laugh at my childish beliefs and wondered how in this world I had ever believed them.

As I stand in front of the gates of Radiant Garden High, only one thought passed into my mind.

I can't wait to live an ordinary life.

* * *

Roxas Uchiyama stood in front of the gates of Radiant Garden High with his bicycle at his side. Before him was a rather lengthy path upwards to the actual school campus. The high school itself stood on top of a hill overlooking the nearby canyon known as the Dark Depths for the canyon floor is a place where sunlight never reaches it. Beyond the canyon was the bustling city of Radiant Garden, home to thousands of denizens who lived a simple life.

The blond-haired teen parked his bike alongside the various other bikes and locked it against the bike racks. The sheer number of bikes that were parked made one wonder how in the world could anyone bring it out. But Roxas shrugged off the possibilities and began his slow trek up the hill.

"Roxas!"

The name grabbed the said boy's attention and Roxas turned to see a familiar face from his middle school, Demyx, as he walked his bike to the gate.

He waved back silently in acknowledgment; he wasn't one for words after all. He waited until his friend had locked up his own bike before turning around again to begin his hike up the hill.

"So, are you excited about the first day of classes?" asked Demyx with a grin.

"As excited as I'll ever be," replied Roxas with a shrug.

"You're no fun," replied Demyx while shaking his head.

"I'll have fun during weekends, thanks," replied Roxas with a grin.

"Oh, doing what? Watching clouds pass by?" joked Demyx.

"Hey, now. I know how to have fun. In fact, I was thinking about going to the movies this Saturday. I heard there's a new Heartless movie coming out."

"Yeah, I heard about that. It's supposed to be really good, right?"

"You free on Saturday?"

"Ah, sorry. I promised my grandparents that I would go visit them in Twilight Town this weekend. Maybe next weekend?"

"Maybe," replied Roxas. The pair stopped in front of the entranceway to the campus of Radiant Garden High. A beige colored building stood in front of them with a banner saying "Welcome to Radiant Garden High" blazed across the clock tower in the middle of the building. A set of stairs led upward into the shoe lockers. Beyond the shoe lockers were corridors leading to various areas of the school, including an indoor pool and a courtyard of green grass and fragrant flowers.

Many students were already entering the glass doors that led to the shoe lockers while others lingered in the front of the school chatting with their friends and catching up over the summer break.

The two first years looked at each other and laughed at their expressions of surprise. Their middle school had been fairly small, and therefore, fairly quiet. The transition to the only public high school in Radiant Garden was quite a difference.

"Time to see what high school life is like," grinned Demyx.

"Yeah," replied Roxas.

The two boys walked up the stairs and entered through the open doorways into the shoe locker area, just in time as the first bell rang.

The rest of the students that had lingered around the grounds all filed into the building and soon, class would begin.

* * *

Homeroom was as boring as I had imagined and heard from my parents. Being the very first period of the day and of the school year, it was natural that introductions had to be made. I took note of the students in my class with a cursory glance. Demyx sat next to me on the left while our new friend, Axel, sat to Demyx's left.

Mr. Leonhart, a rather lanky man, has the unfortunate job of being class 1-B's homeroom teacher. Amongst his responsibilities are to inform us of upcoming school events, what is expected from the class in terms of contribution to the school, and to provide advice to all high school related issues. I would hate to go to him for counseling. His face appears to be set in stone with a mysterious scar that runs down his forehead. When someone in class asked about the scar, he frowned and stared at the said student for a full minute before segueing into another topic.

Introductions went well and everyone's responses were expected. Besides Axel's and Demyx's own introductions of their selves and what they had expected from the upcoming year, I noticed that everyone wanted to learn more, get to know each other better, and otherwise have fun in the first year of high school. Eventually, it was my turn to introduce myself.

"Hello, my name is Roxas Uchiyama. Nice to meet you all. Hope I will get to know you all better as the year progresses and let's all work hard to make this class the best class on campus."

Not a bad introduction, if I'd say so myself. I sat back down with a smile and follow suit with the rest of the class to pay attention to the next person to introduce himself. A mop of brown spiky hair met my eyes as I looked up at the serious face of a boy who looked very much like I do. How in the world did I ever miss seeing him when I got in class is beyond me.

The standing boy looked about him with scrutiny and I started to wonder what is keeping him from introducing himself.

"My name is Sora Kazano. I have one declaration to make. If you are ordinary, then don't talk to me. But if you are an alien, time traveler, or psychic, I want you to join me. That is all." He sat back down with the end of his short introduction and no one could respond to the rather strange declaration.

You must be kidding me. Who does he think he is to talk such nonsense in a high school class?

At first, I thought that the entire class must have thought that this Sora Kazano, a boy of fifteen, was joking. But, when I looked upon the serious face of Sora, I believed that he was actually being serious. That he actually believed in aliens, time travelers, and psychics. No one talked for several moments as we all mulled over Kazano's words until Mr. Leonhart cleared his throat and the rest of the introductions continued as if Sora's introduction did not actually occur.

I, too, wonder if my mind was playing tricks on me or if the mysterious teen's declaration had actually occurred.

* * *

That afternoon, after we had changed into our athletic uniforms, the boys of class 1-B sat upon the bleachers overlooking the track while the girls underwent their physical tests.

"So, I've evaluated all the girls in the first year," said Axel with a smirk. I stared at him disbelieving.

"How did you evaluate them?" asked Demyx curiously.

"Well, first, there's the issue of grade. Then, there's the issue of appearance. Take Selphie Tilmitt, I give her an A for her smartness and energy. She's decent looking compared to some others. Now, Jessie Kramer is an A+ for being the top of her classes in middle school, and she's really pretty."

"In your own opinion," I added offhandedly. "I'll bet you did the same for the guys too, right?"

"Of course," he replied.

"Carson, Hopkins, Kazano, Lee, Walters, and Williams, down on the track now!" shouted our physical education teacher, Mr. Wallace. A rather brute of a man in my opinion. The name "Kazano" caught my attention and I watched as the brown-haired teen stood up from his seat on the bleacher and silently walked down onto the track.

I can't believe that he seems to be treating this test so seriously. In fact, it seemed that he took everything too seriously. I jerked in my seat when Axel slapped me on my back.

"Oy, Earth to Roxas," he said, waving a hand in front of my face.

"What!?" I replied with annoyance.

"Roxas has a tendency to like weird people," commented Demyx with a grin.

"Oh, thanks," I said sarcastically.

"You don't want to go after Kazano," said Axel.

"I'm not thinking about it." I'm offended by his suggestion, but I'm sure not going to admit it.

"Ready, set, go!" Mr. Wallace's voice boomed across the field. I watched with surprise as Sora easily raced down the track to finish first amongst the six runners.

"He sure is fast," commented Demyx, awed by the strange student's feat.

"So what's so weird about Kazano, anyway?" I asked casually, trying not to sound I was too interested by this strange boy who sat behind me.

"Kazano is probably the smartest, but also the most eccentric guy I've known," said Axel. "He's gotten nearly perfect grades in all of his classes while we were in the middle school together. He's athletic and good at everything he does. The only problem with him is his behavior. He never turns down a guy or a girl who wanted to date him, but the relationships never turn out well. His longest relationship was probably a week while his shortest was three hours. Anyways, I digress. His most amazing feat of weirdness during middle school was when he drew crop circles on the pavement in the school courtyard."

"Crop circles?" I asked while raising an eyebrow. Axel nodded.

"One day, we found crop circles drawn in chalk. The school administrators were outraged by the 'vandalism' and demanded that perpetrator reveal themselves. Kazano made no hesitation to admit that he was the one who drew them and said that they were there to attract aliens."

"Huh…" I replied, unable to come up with a better response.

"Ashborn, Cho, Evans, Lee, Rush, and Uchiyama, down on the track now!" came Mr. Wallace's voice. The three of us got up from our spots and began our way down onto the dusty, worn tracks. I dared another glance at the antisocial genius that is Sora Kazano and put the rest of my inquisitiveness of the boy in the back of my mine.

"Ready, get set, go!"

* * *

A month passed by and in that one single month, I seemed to have developed special observational skills when it came to be about Sora Kazano. For example, the color scheme of his clothes changes every day. Not to mention, the style of eyewear he wore changed as the week progresses. On Mondays, he sported shining silver scheme; Tuesdays, red; Wednesdays, light blue; Thursdays, navy blue; Fridays, yellow.

I also heard that Kazano had joined every single club on campus, only to leave them within a day. Each club had sought after his skills, but he ignored their pleas.

As I entered the classroom on that fateful day, I noticed that he wore a familiar light blue jacket. On his face sat a pair of water droplet-shaped spectacles that made him look rather nerdy and awkward. Upon closer inspection, I suddenly realized the number of zippers being at a whopping seven.

"That makes it Wednesday," I muttered to myself. I hung my bookbag on the hook on the side of my desk and sat down… sideways.

Even now, I don't know what prompted me to talk to Kazano, but I did.

"Do you change your appearance everyday to attract aliens?" I commented.

The brown-haired boy drew his attention away from whatever he had been staring at before—he must think that life is so boring—and looked at me, a frown on his face.

"When did you notice?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

"Just recently," I commented, even though I had known this ever since the second week of school.

"I think that aliens are attracted to numbers and color symbolism…" he began to rant on. As I sat there listening attentively to him, I couldn't help but wonder at the many fantastical theories that the guy had. Of course, I hadn't expected him to actually talk to me. Usually, he would say, "I'm not interested," "You're bothering me," or "Go away," whenever someone approaches him with a friendly smile. In effect, I was expecting him to say those things to me too. To have him actually rant to me about how silver symbolizes Monday, red symbolizes Tuesday, and so on is actually rather endearing for me.

"I assume the same goes with the number of days?"

He nodded. "Monday, being the start of the week, is zero. Tuesday is one, and so on."

"I think that Monday should be one."

"No one asked you!" he replied tersely. He stared at him and I looked back, feeling ever so disturbed by his behavior.

"Have I met you before?" he suddenly asked.

"Uh, no," I replied with a slight frown. Who did he think I am? An actual time traveler!?

Luckily for me, the bell rang and I quickly turned my back to face the front before I started another awkward conversation with my neighbor.

* * *

Unfortunately for me, the next day I arrived at class, I noticed that he no longer wore glasses and all but abandoned the rings that he had worn so religiously prior to our conversation. Not to mention, he appeared to have abandoned the same color-scheme fashion and now sports a white jacket with a black vest over it, red shirt, red baggy shorts, rather large yellow sneakers, and fingerless white gloves. It had made him look rather colorful. This sudden change disturbed me very much.

When I voiced my concern, he replied with a simple "Not really."

Strangely enough, a short conversation with Sora before class became a strange daily ritual. One day, I dared to ask him about what Axel had said about him.

"Did that Axel Ashborn tell you?" he replied tersely. "Whatever. If you want to know, it's all true. All of them were completely boring. And what's with them asking me over the phone? If they really wanted to go out with me, they should do it in person!"

"So what kind of person would you want to go out with?" I asked with all seriousness. I have a feeling Sora would've dismissed me if I didn't treat our conversation seriously. "An alien?"

"Something along the line of an alien."

"Why?"

"Don't you think it would be more fun?"

I could only stare at him with disbelief.

* * *

"Oy, Roxas, what the hell did you do to Kazano?" asked Axel upon the ringing of the lunch bell. "I've never heard him talk so much before."

"I did nothing!" I replied defensively, bringing up my hands for emphasis.

"What did you say to him?"

"Nothing!"

"I told you, Roxas likes strange people," Demyx said with a smile on his face.

"Oy, oy. Don't say things that will make people get the wrong impression," I said with a frown. Sometimes I really hate Demyx for his tactlessness.

"This is the end of the world," Axel said dramatically. I stared at him with disbelief. You have got to be joking.

"Well, I'm glad that Sora's got someone to talk to in class. Though I would also like to know how you managed to get him to talk too," came a quiet tenor voice. I turned around to see who was standing behind me: Zexion Walters, our homeroom representative as a result of exercising our democratic rights in homeroom. "I can never get him to talk to me when I ask him questions. Is there a trick to it?"

"I don't know," I replied as I crossed my arms in front of my chest.

"Anyways, I'm glad that he has a friend in class."

"Friend… huh…" I don't think I ever thought of us that way. I would've preferred the term "acquaintances" better.

"In any case, if we have anything we need to tell Kazano, you can tell him for us, right?"

"Uh… I'm not his spokesperson or anything." I'm starting to hate how I've pigeonholed myself into this position.

"We're counting on you," smiled Zexion.

"Oy!" I sighed, knowing perfectly well that they didn't care for my own opinion. "Fine, I understand."

* * *

When time came about to switch seats, I was ecstatic. After drawing my lot from the tin, I inwardly cheered at my luck, with my seat second seat from the back right next to the window. I also preemptively said my farewells to the strange boy called Kazano, cheering for my luck to be able to get away from the boy. But when time came to actually switch, my heart fell to see Sora's new seat was right behind mine.

I guess it's fate that I would be stuck with the loner of the class.

"So I noticed that you've managed to try out every single club." I decided to talk to him the following morning for lack of a better thing to do when I had arrived at school early. "If you find any good clubs clubs, let me know?"

"They're all completely worthless. Not one of them is completely good." I noticed that he has a tendency to use completely. I guess it's just black and white for Kazano and no shades of gray in between.

"I thought high school clubs would be better than middle school ones, but they're just as bad. There is a Mystery Club, but it's just a bunch of mystery novel bookworms. They have no chance of dealing with any sorts of cases. Then there's a Supernatural Phenomena Research Society, which I expected more from, but it's just a bunch of occult freaks. What do you think about that?"

"Nothing, really," I replied while scratching my nose. It was true, I have no idea what to say to that.

"Man, why is it so boring!? You'd think with so many clubs out there, there would be at least one strange one! Maybe I went to the wrong school."

I wondered which criteria Kazano was using to choose schools. I'd choose schools based on their reputation and not based on their clubs.

"You can't choose what you can't have," I commented, my rational side getting the better of me. "You can't be looking for something that doesn't exist. Humans just have to accept what's in front of them and make the most out of it. After all, inventions, discoveries, and advancements are all due to human achievements. Such innovations only came from humans who had the plans and concepts. In other words, geniuses made it all possible. We non-geniuses should just live out our ordinary lives."

"Shut up," interjected Sora. I turned my face to look at him and saw annoyance and irritation in the deep blue eyes. He turned his face toward the window and I frowned, knowing that I had potentially strained the wisps of connection we had. Wait, why am I caring about Kazano's connection with the rest of the class?

* * *

Now that I think back on it, I guess the conversation gave him the idea. That afternoon, I had started to doze off in history class when I felt a sudden yank on my jacket collar. My body jerked back with the motion and my head hit the edge of the desk behind me.

I stood up immediately upon regaining my balance to shout at Kazano. "What do you think you're doing!?"

"I figured it out!" he replied excitedly, a gleam in his eyes.

"Figured what out?" I asked while rubbing the back of my head tenderly. I wondered if I had gotten a concussion from that blow.

"I'll just have to make my own club!"

"Good for you," I replied unenthusiastically.

"What's with you? You should be happier for my discovery!" he replied with a pout.

"I would, but you see, we're in class right now," I commented lamely. A harsh clearing of the throat drew our attention to the front of the classroom where Mr. Merlin glared at us through his glasses. I quickly bowed and muttered an apology before sitting back down. Sora did the same, though with less concern about disrupting the class. I surmised that he only thought about what club he was going to make for the rest of the period.

* * *

_Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belong to Square Enix. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya belongs to Tanigawa Nagaru. Yada yada yada._

_A/N: I had the hardest time trying to figure out whether I should write this work in Sora's point of view or in Roxas's point of view. In the end, I felt Sora fit the impulsive child role better than Roxas, so I chose to write it in Roxas's perspective. If you have any questions or concerns… feel free to review :P_


	2. The SOS Brigade

**Chapter 2 – The SOS Brigade**

* * *

Upon the ringing of the bell signaling the morning break, Sora dragged me by my wrist to the building where all the clubrooms were. When we finally stopped, I stared at his eager face.

"Help me," he said with a feral grin—something I hope never to see ever again, "help me make my club."

This feels like extortion… "Why do I have to help you with your idea?"

"I'll go get a room and members while you go get the paperwork," he said. Why do I get the feeling that he simply won't listen to others when he's got his mind set on something?

"What kind of club do you intend on making?"

"That doesn't matter. Making the club is priority! Understood? Get the paperwork ready before class ends and I'll go find a room for our purpose." With that, the hyper teen ran down the stairs out of my sight. I sighed at my predicament and ruffled my own hair with irritation.

"How do I get myself into these situations!?" I exclaim dramatically to myself before making my way toward the student council office to obtain the chartering papers for this random club that Sora intended on making.

* * *

After classes were over, I found myself once again being dragged by Sora to another place. This time, presumably our new clubroom. He threw open the door leading into the room and I noted the rather empty room save for a large table, two bookcases full of books, and several fold-up chairs leaning against the wall.

"This is our new clubroom!" he exclaimed.

"Wait a minute. Where are we?" I asked suspiciously.

"This is the literature clubroom," he replied. I took a look around and found an old projector set up in the corner. When I heard the answer, my head snapped to his grinning face.

"So this belongs to the literature club," I reiterated.

"But, since all the seniors graduated, there is no member for the club. This person," he laid a hand on the shoulder of a blond-haired girl who seemed rather engrossed in her book, "is Naminé Nakahara. She joined the literature club or it would've been cut from school."

"Then the club isn't cut!' I said, becoming rather afraid of Sora's enthusiasm.

"Eh, close enough," he said with a shrug.

"But what about her?" I asked.

"She said that it's fine." I stared at him in shock. "I asked her during lunch and she told me to just go ahead."

"Uh, Naminé. Is it really fine with you if she turns this room into an I-have-no-idea-what clubroom?"

"It's fine," the girl turned towards us for her short reply before returning to her book.

"It might be a big bother," I said.

"It's fine," she replied once again.

"You might even get kicked out."

"That's fine." I gaped at the reading girl and couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"That's that," said Sora. "From now on, meet in this room after class! You better show up or else!"

"Fine," I reply with a sigh.

* * *

The next day, I went to the clubroom as promised and saw that Naminé was already there. Sora had run off just after class to who-knows-where and so I sat down on a chair next to the table and looked about with boredom.

"Um, what book are you reading?" I asked hesitantly. The silent girl raised her book to show me the title: _The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya_.

"Is it interesting?"

"It's unique," she replied quietly.

"What part of it?"

"Every detail." I was beginning to feel really creepy when it came to this rather quiet girl called Naminé Nakahara.

"You really like books huh?"

"Somewhat."

"I see…" Where is Sora!? I want to leave!

Just as I was about to sit down, the door slammed open to reveal Sora in the doorway.

"Yo! Sorry for being late," he greeted with a smile on his face. I have a feeling this day wasn't going to end well.

"It took me a while to catch her," he grinned as he pulled a red-haired girl into view. I stared as Sora proceeded to push her into the room with a wicked grin on his face. Somehow the feeling that this day wasn't going to end well is proving to be true.

"What is this?" the girl asked hesitantly. She's probably scared out of her wits after being dragged to this random room by a random person. It's ten times as worse when that said person is Sora Kazano. "Where are we?" Both she and I jumped when we heard the door being locked. "Why are you locking the door!?"

"Be quiet," the boy said in a rather cold tone. He turned and basically jumped onto the girl with an arm around her shoulders as he grinned. I gaped at his enthusiasm and prayed for the life of the unfortunate girl in front of me.

"Let me introduce our newest member of the club, Kairi Fischer!"

I stared… and stared. Is that all he was going to say?

"Where did you kidnap her from?" I asked, surmising that Kairi didn't actually come with Sora on her own accord.

"It wasn't kidnapping!" he retorted. "It was voluntary arrest!"

"Isn't that the same thing?" I replied.

"I caught her daydreaming in a second-year classroom. I've gone through the entire school during breaks, so I remembered seeing her a couple of times."

That explains why she's not in class for break every single time. A thought suddenly struck me.

"Then she's an upperclassman," I commented.

"What about it?"

"Never mind," I sighed. "Then, Kairi, is it? Why her?"

"Why not her?" he replied before pointing at the girl's face. "She's cute! I believe turn-ons are essential."

"Wait… what!?" I gaped at him. I do agree though, Kairi is really cute.

"Turn-ons! You know-" I decided to interrupt him before he goes into further details about the "turn-ons."

"Yes, yes. I know what you're talking about."

"Turn-ons are essential in any weird story. After all, in every story where something weird happens, there's always a cute, petite girl present."

I could not believe my ears. Did this just happen or did you actually plan this entire thing out, Sora?

"Not just that," he grinned before poking Kairi's chest. I grabbed his wrists before he could be reprimanded for sexual molestation.

"I get it," I said exasperatedly. "So is that it? The fact that she's a really cute girl who can turn people on in strange stories is the only reason why you brought her here?"

"Yup," he grinned. "She's going to be our mascot!" He turned to the frightened girl. "Kairi, are you in any club?"

"Um… I'm in the art club…"

"Quit that one. It'll interfere with this club's activities." I gawked at the brown-haired boy for his gall. Who does he think he is? The king of the world?

The girl seemed to think about it for a moment before turning to see Naminé in the background reading. She seemed to recognize the other before turning around to face us.

"I see… I understand now. I will join this club and quit the art club," she replied. I blinked… and blinked. Did I just hear what I heard? Is she joining us out of fear or out of volition? I think it's the latter based on her reaction on seeing Naminé. I wonder if Sora noticed it.

"But… I really don't know what the literature club does," she frowned slightly.

"We're not the literature club," stated Sora confidently.

"We're temporarily borrowing the room," I added. "The club you're being forced into," I glared at Sora, who seemed unfazed by my annoyance, "is an unnamed association yet to be made by Sora that will participate in unknown activities. The real literature club member is sitting over here."

"That's fine! I've come up with a name for our club." Our club? Since when was it our club?

"Let's hear it then."

Attention, attention. The name of this strange club has just been announced!

"SOS Brigade!" he said while giving us a thumb up.

The Save-the-world-by-Overloading-it-with-fun: Sora Kazano's Brigade, in other words, SOS Brigade for short. What a great name…

Originally, it would've been Save-the-world-by-Overloading-it-with-fun: Sora Kazano's Association, but an association hadn't been formed yet. The lack of five required members is obvious right there. Not to mention, no one has any idea what this club was going to do—though I do suspect it would have nothing to do with the school's philosophy of "creativity and vivaciousness." What kind of school uses that word anyways!?. When I brought up that point, his only reply was:

"That's why brigade is just fine."

Sora's incomprehensible word has the last say on the matter… Oh great. Fine, whatever. Just… do whatever you want.

* * *

When I think back on the conversation that had transpired between me, Sora, and Kairi during the previous month, I can't help but feel that I have just been thrown into hell and been forced to journey through it in the accompaniment of Sora Kazano.

"Good morning," came a voice from behind me as I trekked up the hill for the umpteenth time. Having gotten used to the climb, I was almost tempted to not stop. But, I turned to see Zexion jogging up the hill.

"Good morning," I replied.

"Sorry, I need to go ahead. Forgot that I had class duties today," he waved good-bye. I wonder what had prompted him to greet me in the first place. Sometimes, it's hard to believe that a normal person like him is in the class when there's Sora Kazano.

I opened the door into the classroom to see Sora sitting at his desk with a confident smile on his face. He appeared to have been waiting for me this entire time because when he saw me, he immediate left his seat and came over to me.

"Roxas, what do you think we still need?"

"For what?"

"We need to get a mysterious transfer student into our club." Good luck with that one.

"Wait. Back up and give me the context? I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I think the SOS Brigade needs a mysterious transfer student to complete it."

"Define 'mysterious' first, please."

"We're two months into the school year. Any student who transfers right now must be mysterious," he reasoned aloud.

"Maybe his dad just got transferred at work," I supplied.

"Nope, that would be weird." He seemed irked by my response with the way he crossed his arms.

"What would you consider to be normal then?"

"I really want a mysterious transfer student to show up," he said as he walked back to his seat.

As usual, he doesn't give a damn for what I say. God, if there is a god out there, why me!?

I followed suit and went to my own seat, sitting down to prepare for the class as the bell rang.

Throughout the morning, I wished that I sat somewhere else, knowing perfectly well that Sora's grinning happily behind me. I couldn't shake the creepy feeling I get with the hyper boy seated behind me with the eagerness of a child who has been promised candy if he's well behaved. In this case, I believe Sora is obviously waiting for class to be over so he can start working on SOS Brigade's very first club activity. All I can pray is that our first activity won't be too traumatizing for us all, especially for the fragile mind of Kairi Fischer. From what I've seen in the past month, she is so meek that I'm wouldn't be surprised if she were to come to class everyday all stressed from the lack of sleep.

As for Naminé Nakahara, her portrait could be found under Encyclopedia Britannica for a "mystery." I've yet to figure out the personality and the life of the only literature club member. Every single day I've gone to the clubroom—which, I will admit with chagrin, is every day—she's already there reading. Doesn't she have class like the rest of us!?

Speaking of class… the bell just rang and it's lunch time.

During lunch, it appeared that a rumor went around saying that Sora and I were plotting something.

"What are you and Sora doing, anyhow?" asked Axel as we ate lunch in the classroom. "Don't tell me you're going out."

My eyes widened with surprise and I nearly choked on the water that I had been drinking.

"Absolutely not!" I replied indignantly. "I should be the one who would like to know exactly what we're doing."

"Just don't overdo it. We're not in middle school anymore," he said. "They'll at least suspend you if the school grounds become unusable."

"You think I don't know that?" I retorted. And as much as I'd like to just simply back out of this insane situation, I have to at least save Nakahara and Fischer from Sora's crazy schemes lest they get hurt.

* * *

That afternoon, Sora disappeared from the room before I even had my bag packed up. I sighed at my misfortunes as I watched the open doorway out of the classroom.

"Going to Kazano's clubroom huh?" asked Demyx as he leaned against my desk. I nodded silently.

"Well, see you tomorrow then," he replied. "You're up for Light Cycles this weekend, right?"

"As long as the SOS Brigade doesn't do something, then yeah."

"Sora's got you on a short leash," commented Axel with a grin. I scowled at him.

"Maybe there are pretty girls in Kazano's club," said Demyx. I thought about it for a moment. Although neither Naminé nor Kairi could be said to be really pretty, they are really cute.

"As a matter of fact, they are pretty girls," I commented offhandedly, picking up my bookbag. "But, since Kazano's in the club, I doubt either one of you would join. I'll just protect them from Kazano myself." I grinned.

"Yeah, you go ahead and do that," retorted Axel with a grin. "Come on, Demyx. See you tomorrow, Roxas."

"Later." We went our separate ways and I began my daily trek toward the SOS Brigade clubroom.

When I opened the wooden door leading into the room, I had originally thought I got the wrong room. However, upon seeing Naminé in the corner, I knew that it _was_ the SOS Brigade room. Yet, the amount of furnishings in the previously sparse room was rather shocking.

On the side of the blackboard stood two wide cabinets that doubled as counters for a water heater, a radio, several mugs, a coffee machine, a metal pot, a teapot, a portable stove, and a large case of instant ramen cups. Next to the cabinets was a mini-fridge. What was Sora thinking of making this room into? Our living quarters?

Sitting on top of a desk that he had obviously pilfered from some undisclosed location, Sora faced the open windows with a wide smile on his face. He turned toward me and for the first time I noticed a cloth armband pinned on his sleeve with the words "Brigade Chief" written across it with a Sharpie.

"I know what we're missing!" he exclaimed. Naminé remained unfazed by Sora's outbursts while Kairi let out a small "eep" upon the sudden shout. I merely looked over to him as I sat down on the remaining unoccupied chair in the room.

"What do we need?" I asked unenthusiastically. I really really want to go home!

"We need a computer. How can we get more members if we can't publicize the club?" Didn't you just say you wanted a mysterious student to join the club just this morning?

"And where are you going to scrounge up a computer?"

"Scrounge!? No, no. We're doing no such thing. I know that next door's the Computer Science Club. I'm sure they can be persuaded into giving us a computer." If by persuaded, I'm pretty sure you mean blackmailed or of that sort.

"Come, Roxas and Kairi!" he stated confidently before grabbing the two of us by our wrists and dragging out of the room.

A short five paces later, we followed the impulsive Sora Kazano into the rather dark room of the Computer Science Club. Six boys sat in front of six personal computers that were scattered about the room. Based on the monitor, I'd say they were in the middle of a strategy game before we so rudely interrupted them. It also didn't help that Sora just slammed the door open rather than knock before he opened the door.

"What's going on here?" asked a black haired boy who looked rather pudgy. I was rather shocked by his appearance. His street-style fashion sense completely contradicts my perception of a computer science student: one who wore glasses, has freckles, and wore a polo shirt with brown or black slacks. Instead, the boy in front of me wore a white tee-shirt underneath a red jersey along with a pair of blue baggy pants. The entire ensemble was completed with a pair of blue tennis shoes and a black headband that created the unruly-hair look.

"We're here to get a computer complete with peripherals," stated Sora with a grin. Kairi stood behind him nervously while I stood in the doorway praying that nothing bad would happen.

"What are you talking about? We don't just give out computers for free," he replied with a frown on his face. Please, Sora, don't do what I think you will be doing.

"You guys have so many computers already, one isn't going to hurt!" Sora replied still with that creepy grin on his face. I have a feeling this isn't going to end well.

"Who are you guys anyways?" the leader of the Computer Science club asked with a scowl.

"I'm the SOS Brigade leader, Sora Kazano. And these are my underlings." Huzzah, we are now pawns in Sora's scheme. "There. Now, stop complaining and give us a computer!"

"For what reason? There's no way we'd give you one for free!" A mischievous smile appeared on Sora's face. This isn't good, I should interfere before something bad happens.

"Sora," I spoke for the first time. "Let me handle this. Kairi, can you take Sora outside?"

"Um…" the girl said hesitantly.

"Roxas, stay out of this," he replied. "I can persuade you into giving us a computer," he said slyly. Wrapping an arm across Kairi's shoulder, he steered the clueless girl towards the sitting student and grabbed a hold of the boy's free hand.

Why do I always have to be right!?

I watched in horror as the hand met a protrusion on Kairi's chest and the girl screamed "What!?" Sora continued to grin in his creepy grin as everyone in the room realized what had just happened.

The club leader quickly drew his hand back but Sora's grip was too strong. Before he knew it, he was on the ground on top of the hysterical girl while Sora was cackling softly taking pictures.

I crossed the room quickly and snatched the camera from the scheming boy's hands.

"Roxas!" he growled.

"This is going too far, Sora," I said. I'm starting to sound like my own mother.

"Whatever, I've got evidence." He turned to the club leader, who had managed to distance himself from SOS Brigade's hapless mascot. "If you don't want the rumors to spread, you better pay up and give us a computer."

"You forced me to do it!" the boy cried frantically.

"The photos don't lie."

The club leader looked about with an air of despair and sighed.

"Fine, take which ever one you want," he said at last. I feel really sorry for the guy. Sora scrutinized each computer closely while I laid my eyes on a box that sat rather forlornly in the corner. The packaging hadn't been damaged, so I assumed that there was a computer within.

"What about that one?" I suggested, pointing at the box.

"That one was donated by the school to us," a member of the club said. "It was meant to replace our oldest computer!"

"It's fine, Jeremy," the club leader said with a sigh. "Go ahead and take that one. We have no need for it."

Sora grinned happily and gladly took the box with him. Kairi followed him out of the room while I remained behind.

"Is it a usable computer?" I asked hesitantly. The club leader nodded solemnly.

"It's a brand new iMac," he replied. I took a step back with surprise. "But, none of us here really use Macs, and I'd rather not spend my last year tinkering with something that I have no experience with."

"But, aren't iMacs really expensive?"

"It's an older model, so not as expensive as some of the newer stuff out there."

"Thanks," I replied.

"Are… you going to give me the photos?" he asked hesitantly. I looked down in my hand to find the camera still there.

"Yeah sure," I said, handing him the camera. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks. I would be dead if Olette find out what had happened."

I laughed. "No problem. Anyways, thanks."

"Any time. The name's Pence. Pence Doyle."

"Roxas Uchiyama. Nice to meet you."

A brand new friendship has been formed!

Once the new computer has been set up, I was charged with making a website for the SOS Brigade. Why am I the one who has to do everything? Oh well, it's a good use of my lunch breaks.

* * *

Whether it's coincidence or not, I'm more inclined to think that it was the latter now, Sora got his wish. During the last period before school ended, I noticed that Sora had already gone. For a smart student, he sure doesn't mind skipping classes. As I sat in my seat letting my mind wander as Mr. Gast droned on and on about the evolutionary process, I can't help but wonder why I keep going back to the SOS Brigade clubroom. I guess what they say is true, habits are hard to break.

So, as I made my way over to the clubroom after class, I wonder what Sora was doing during sixth period.

I entered the room to see Kairi and Naminé already in the room. Naminé was, as usual, reading a book, this time titled _Rental Magica_. Kairi sat in her seat looking rather forlorn.

"Sora didn't come with you?" she asked upon seeing me in the doorway. I shook my head.

"He was already gone by sixth period," I replied. "Look, about yesterday…"

"It's alright," she replied with a smile. "It was probably inevitable in this temporal plane," she added softly.

"What?" I blinked with confusion.

The red-haired girl blushed and flustered as she spoke her next words. "Oh, it's nothing. Don't mind what I'm blabbering about." I cocked my head to one side and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Eh, whatever. If she doesn't want me to know about her secrets, that's just fine with me.

"Oh, right," she said suddenly. "Do you want to play Scrabble? I saw Sora drop it off during lunch."

"Sure…" I said. Kairi then went over to the cabinet beneath the water heater and pulled out a mahogany cardboard box.

"Naminé, do you want to join us?" I asked the reading girl. She looked up at me and nodded silently.

Thus, as we waited for Sora to show up, the three of us enjoyed a quiet game of Scrabble. I noticed that occasionally both Kairi and Naminé would make up strange words like "autoevolution" and "timequake". As I'm not a sophomore like Kairi or a bookworm like Naminé, I didn't think to correct them. But I did have my suspicions about the words.

As we came close to the end of the game, the door sudden slammed open to reveal and grinning Sora. The grin reminded me of when he had brought in Kairi just a month ago, and I knew something was going to happen.

"Hey! Sorry for the wait," he exclaimed as he dragged a person into the room. "Our newest member is here! The useful transfer student who joined class 1-E today," he gestured to the newcomer.

"Riku Hamilton, nice to meet you all."

"This is the SOS Brigade with members 1, 2, and 3. You're the fourth member. I'm the leader, Sora Kazano. Everyone get along now!"

I stared at the silver-haired teen that was at least a head taller than Sora with a grin on his face that reminded me oddly of Sora. Suddenly, the words that Sora said about a "mysterious transfer student" came to mind when I continued to stare at the boy. He seemed to exude an aura of mystery about him. Oy, oy, Sora, this can't be a mere coincidence.

The newcomer looked about him with strange interest. "I have no problem with joining, but what does this club do exactly?" Somehow, I feel like he didn't get a chance to go to any other club before being dragged off by Sora to the clubroom.

Sora grinned. "The purpose of this club is to find aliens, time travelers, and psychics and have fun with them!"

"Ah…" I was speechless. I was reminded of Sora's introduction during homeroom on the very first day of class and the reality of being stuck with the world's most eccentric boy came crashing down on me.

"I see." See what!? "Very well, I will join." Were you actually listening to Sora's explanation?

"Yes! That makes five members and the SOS Brigade is a full-fledged club!" cheered Sora. I feel like I'm stuck in an outlandish high school drama dealing with a psychotic teen and three others that are probably just as psychotic as the original. Am I the only normal guy here?

The transfer student approached me with a friendly smile on his face and reached out for a handshake.

"Since I just transferred here, I'm sure I have a lot of learn from you all."

"Roxas Uchiyama," I replied, not sure what else to say to this "mysterious transfer student" that Sora just happened to find out of nowhere.

"The cute girl's Kairi and the reading girl's Naminé." Riku looked at the other two and it appeared that a mutual understanding was reached between the three. Or was that just my imagination?

"It's time for our club to be publicized and make the world know!" Sora exclaimed. I noticed that Sora gets excited rather easily. I looked over to the now-reading girl and wondered if Naminé was actually fine with being a member of the SOS Brigade when we never actually asked her.

Shortly after the introduction of the new member to the club, Sora went home with a happy grin on his face. Both Riku and Kairi left at the same time, which left me and Naminé alone in the clubroom. I fiddled some more with the website and wondered what the hell Sora wanted me to put on the main page and so on.

The book that Naminé had been reading was thrust into my face and I leaned back to see Naminé standing next to me.

"Read it this afternoon," she said softly. I blinked and wondered what she was talking about.

"Ah, sure," I replied lamely, taking the book from her and putting it into my bookbag. Naminé then left the clubroom without another word.

"Later," I waved pathetically and dropped my hand when Naminé didn't bother to take a look back. Breathing a sigh of defeat, I looked back at the white, blank page that served as our front page and scratched the back of my head with annoyance.

"Whatever, I'll not bother with the webpage until Sora tells me what the hell I'm supposed to put on it." With that, I saved the measly work I did that afternoon and shut down the computer, leaving the clubroom behind.

* * *

_Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belong to Square Enix. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya belongs to Tanigawa Nagaru. Yada yada yada._

_A/N: Someone had brought up a point about the title and how the content itself doesn't seem to follow the meaning of the title. My original answer was going to be that I'm paying tribute to the Japanese light novel by Tanigawa Nagaru. However, now that I think about it, the reason for the title will explain itself as we progress along. Hope you enjoyed. :D  
_


	3. Getting to Know the Others

**Chapter 3 – Getting to Know the Others**

* * *

After I went home around four o'clock, I dumped my school work on my orange sheeted bed and found Naminé's book amongst the various notebooks and folders I used for school. Pulling the paperback book from the pile, I sat down on my swivel chair in front of my desk, turned on the desk light, and began to read.

About two hours later, I found myself dozing off, my interest in the overly descriptive prose fading. I wonder how Naminé found it interesting. No, I wonder why in the world I'm following Naminé's request and reading such a boring book. Resisting the urge to simply flip back to the end to read what happened to the hero, I arbitrarily flipped through the pages and was surprised to see a slip of paper float down onto the desk.

On it: "Meet in front of the ice cream shop at 7 PM. – N.N." I took a glance at my watch: 6:45.

"Ah, crap," I muttered with annoyance. I hurried out of the house, shouting a random excuse to my family, and rode my skateboard to the shop. It was, after all, much more convenient than the bike, even though somewhat slower.

I arrived in front of the ice cream shop fifteen minutes late and saw Naminé sitting at a table on the patio eating a bowl of ice cream. I was surprised to see such a sight since I couldn't imagine the silent girl who sat in the club room all day reading acting like a normal high school student.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," I said apologetically.

"It's alright," she replied with a hint of a smile on her face. "I wasn't waiting long." She quickly finished the ice cream she had been eating and stood up.

"Let's go," she said. I could only comply with her command and followed her to a posh apartment building located just a block away.

From the time we left the ice cream shop to the time where we entered her strangely decorated apartment, Naminé said nothing. It kind of made me wonder if I hadn't imagined her eating ice cream just now.

"Coffee?" she asked as she left me standing in the large living room with white walls, white floor, white ceiling, a large white table, white cabinets, white chairs. The only colors in the room came from the floral arrangement in the middle of the table and the crayon doodles that were taped at various places on the walls. It certainly gave the room a rather childish feeling.

"Uh, sure," I said.

"Take a seat at the table," I heard her say to me. As requested, I sat at one end of the table and waited for the drink. Taking another look around, I found a drawing tablet along with several crayons and pastels scattered on the table top on the other end of the table. From the look of things, it didn't seem like there were any other inhabitants besides Naminé.

"Where is your family?" I chanced a question as my hostess reentered the room bearing two mugs of coffee, sugar, and cream. She placed the mug of coffee in front of me and sat in a chair just a few arm lengths away near the floral arrangement.

"They're not here," she replied simply as she dropped two sugar cubes into her coffee.

"Where are they? Are they out?" I asked casually.

"I'm the only one who lives here."

"You live by yourself?" I gaped at her. She nodded. A moment of silence passed between us as we drank our coffee. I noted that the coffee was probably the best coffee I've ever drank.

"So… why did you call me here? What is it that you couldn't tell me at school?"

"What I'm about to say regarding myself and Sora Kazano is highly classified," she said at last, "but my superiors have allowed me to share this information to you."

"Superiors? Classified information?"

"Both myself and Sora Kazano are not ordinary humans."

"I'd thought as much," I said after taking another sip of my coffee.

"It's not what you think. He and I are vastly different from ordinary humans like yourself, not simply in personality and behavior, but in abilities and origins. I am a humanoid interface created by the Data Integration Thought Entity who supervises the activities of the Milky Way Galaxy."

"What?"

"In other words, I am an alien."

I blinked… and blinked. Did she just admit she is an alien!?

"Ali…en?" I asked for a lack of a better response.

"My duty on this planet is to observe Sora Kazano and his behaviors. For the past three years, his behavior has been fairly consistent with a few minor discrepancies here and there. However, recently, a new factor entered into his life that has caused the situation on this planet to become unstable. This new factor would be you."

"Me?"

"Yes. Originally, Earth held no significant merit for the Data Integration Thought Entity. However, the organisms we now call humans caught our attention and we began our observations. Perhaps these humans possessed the potential to engage in autoevolution. Granted, the emergence of self-awareness among the universe's organic life forms was a common phenomenon, humans were the first instance of evolution to a higher order of intelligence with an increase in capacity for data retention while creating, processing, and storing new data.

Three years ago, we observed a surge of data unlike any other witnessed on this planet. At the center of this data surge was Sora Kazano. Intrigued by this event, the Data Integration Thought Entity created me and sent me down to observe the creator of the data surge, the one who has the capabilities of generating data out of nothingness. For the past three years, we have investigated the existence of Sora Kazano but were unable to determine his identity."

She took a sip from her mug and continued. I made no attempt to cut into her narration, however crazy it may sound.

"Because we believe that Sora Kazano is the key to autoevolution for humanity and for us data life forms, we have continued our observations and analyzed the situation on Earth accordingly. As data life forms, the Data Integration Thought Entity has no way of communicating with organic life forms such as yourself. Thus, data-humanoid interfaces such as myself were created to transmit the thoughts and ideas of the Data Integration Thought Entity to humans."

"Do you believe in all that?" I finally asked as she paused again.

"Yes. I believe that Sora Kazano is the key to autoevolution. It is likely that he possesses the ability to control data in his surroundings as he wishes. This is why both of us are part of the SOS Brigade."

"Okay, I'll admit. I have no idea what you just said. Why me? Why reveal your identity to me?"

"You have been chosen by Sora. Whether he is aware of it or not, his subconscious has affected his surroundings and thus chose you as a focal point in his actions. You are the key to Sora Kazano and thus the key to autoevolution. You and Sora Kazano have the potential to change everything."

"How do you know this?"

"I just do," she replied simply. "There are other Data Integration Thought Entities who wish to take a more direct and proactive approach in observing Sora Kazano. Their own interfaces will thus approach you in order to elicit a response from Sora Kazano. In the future, you will have to be careful."

"What if I tell Sora about all of this?"

"He won't believe you."

"Oh… right."

* * *

When I reached home that day, I kept thinking about what Naminé Nakahara had said to me and wondered how much of it was true. I had hoped that listening to the quiet girl would be wonderful, but who'd known that such crazy babble would come out of her mouth! It was as if Sora had acted out one of his fantasies through Naminé.

I looked at the cover of the book that Naminé had lent me before sighing with misery and choosing to go to sleep. Someone please tell me that Naminé had just read too much science fiction books in her spare time and thus came up with this fantastical story. For now, I see no reason to believe her.

* * *

The next day, I slowly made my way over to the club room, wondering what mundane activities the rest of the SOS Brigade was going to do while Sora continued on his search for the abnormal.

I opened the door into the clubroom and was met with the most profoundly disturbing image I've ever seen so far in my short short life.

It would appear that in his search for the supernatural, Sora has resorted to cosplaying for attention. Not that he needs any more attention, mind you.

On top of his brown spiky hair sat a large blue wizard's hat and he sported a blue robe with a plastic staff to complete the ensemble. Kairi, who seemed terribly embarrassed, was wearing a nurse's outfit with a skirt that cut just above her knees. Three other bags sat on top of the table, undoubtedly for the rest of us who had yet to arrive. Well, except for Naminé, but I'll be damned if Sora manages to get her wearing whatever it is he got for her.

"What is this?" I asked with narrowed eyes.

"Get changed, we need to go hand out flyers!" he grinned while holding up another paper bag in his hands. He crossed the room and stuffed a blue paper bag into my hands before skipping over to the computer and fiddling with it, a wide grin on his face.

"And where do you suggest I get changed?" I asked before pulling out the outfit that he chose for me. Oh joy, I get to be a Power Ranger. Granted, it's the green Ranger, so I supposed I was fine.

"Right here is fine," he replied offhandedly. Kairi stared at Sora and I saw her face redden like a tomato.

"Uh, thanks, but I'll go changed in the restroom." I hurried out of the clubroom and raced down the hallway to the bathroom and wonder how the hell I was getting out of this predicament.

It was probably five minutes later that Riku found me pacing back and forth in the boy's restroom, the bag that held my own costume untouched on a counter above a sink.

"You might as well get changed," he said with a smirk. "Pacing isn't going to get you anywhere."

"And what did he get you?" I asked. Riku pulled out a white corsair's shirt and a pair of red and white striped pirate breeches.

"It would appear that Sora thinks that I'm a pirate," he replied, the smirk still on his face.

"You know that smirk is really getting to my nerves," I said.

"You know, smiles defuse most tense situations." He began changing. I sighed and followed suit.

"Oh really? I'd beg to differ. When Sora smiles, the situation gets more tense."

"That is because Sora isn't your normal high school student. Then again, neither am I."

I paused in my changing. This conversation seems familiar.

"Let me guess, you have special powers."

"I'm assuming one of the other two approached you already?" he asked. I nodded silently. "Yes, I am what you would call a psychic. I cannot prove to you that I am a psychic for certain conditions must be met before I can use my powers. Also, you may choose not to believe me and I would not hold it against you."

"How do you know this?"

"Three years ago, myself and several of my colleagues suddenly found ourselves with the knowledge to use our powers. This sudden realization would be disconcerting if we had not known who gave us those powers."

"Sora Kazano."

"That is correct. Sora Kazano gave us these powers and the knowledge to use them on his own whim. I'm sure you've heard this, but he can realize his own wishes whether he is conscious of his own actions or not. However, his ignorance of his own powers also means that he can very well destroy this world that we live in right now."

"In other words, Sora's a 'god' in your mind." I replied, pulling up the skin tight suit before I froze to death in the cold, unheated restroom.

"That is one way of putting it," he replied; the grin he wore was back on his face. "Sora has managed to gather three of the low ranking members of their respective specialties into this club. There must be a reason why he's done so."

"And me?"

"You are a mystery that my Agency, meaning my colleagues and I, have not figured out. As far as we are concerned, you are an ordinary human being."

"That's fine with me," I replied. He adjusted the leather belt that held the pirate breeches up before taking a look at himself in the mirror.

"Let's head back," he said. I followed his lead and we returned to the clubroom.

Only to find that Sora and Kairi had left to hand out the flyers before we came back.

"Well, that makes our lives easier," said Riku with a smile. I scowled at him, wondering if he was smiling because he was actually happy or whether he was just faking it.

I went over to the open window and watched as Sora waved white sheets of paper about, shoving them into people's faces. When people didn't take them, he threw a fit and began throwing them into the air, which drew the attention of the school administrators.

"Looks like Sora's gonna be called into the principal's office," I commented.

* * *

Sure enough, an hour later, Sora returned to the clubroom with a scowl on his face. Kairi had returned to the clubroom more than thirty minutes before close to crying. The scolding from the teachers must've frightened her so much that she couldn't help but cry.

"This sucks," Sora grumbled as he threw the hat that he had been wearing onto the counter next to the water heater. He sat down on the chair in front of the computer and swiveled around to face the open window, but found the sight of where his failed publicity campaign to be too irritating and swiveled back to the computer.

"What happened?" I asked, taking liberty to drape Sora's white jacket over the downtrodden girl.

"I hadn't even handed out half of the flyers when the teachers came out to say that I'm littering and that Kairi's outfit was against the school codes. Of course, they took me to the principal's office and I had to spend thirty minutes in that stupid office listening to the stupid man babble on and on about how students must follow the school code and stuff. So annoying!"

"It can't be helped," I said, picking up a crumbled flyer to read it.

"The SOS Brigade Proclamation. Our SOS Brigade is looking for mysteries of the world. People who have experience something strange in the past; people who have run into something strange recently; people who plan on a strange experience in the future: if any of the above applies to you, come see us! We will solve your problems right on the spot! Of course, a normal mystery will not do. Make sure that it's a mystery that will wow us! Make note of that."

"I'm going home!" he exclaimed before throwing the wizard's hat onto the table. He picked up his bookbag and strolled out of the clubroom without changing out of his costume. But, I wasn't going to mention that to him, seeing how irritated he was already. Besides, the wizard's robe can serve as a coat on this winter day.

"Well, I guess we should do the same," I suggested, getting ready to head to the restroom again to change.

"I agree," said Riku. Kairi simply nodded silently. The day thus ended rather solemnly.

* * *

Rolling along to the next day. Sora never showed up for class that day, which was fine. However, I hadn't expected for Sora's name to be synonymous with notoriety at school. Nor had I expected for my own name and Kairi's name to become associated with his. As thus, the SOS Brigade's publicity soared, though not necessarily in a good way.

"You've done it," said Axel as he clapped my shoulder during break. "You are now one of Kazano's merry friends." He laughed at my predicament.

"Shut up," I muttered with annoyance. I _did_ not need Axel to come over and remind me of the situation I'm stuck in.

"I was really surprised yesterday to see Sora and a girl in a maid's outfit standing in front of the school gate. Wasn't it Kairi Fischer? A sophomore?" asked Demyx. I nodded quietly.

"In any case, the entire school has their attention on you guys now," added Axel in a light manner.

"What is this SOS Brigade anyways?" asked Zexion, waving a flyer that Sora had handed out the previous day in my face. "It sounds fun."

"Ask Sora. He knows about it better than I do. I don't want to know what it's about either," I said with a huff.

"You guys are taking it too far though," he replied, "especially with what Sora did yesterday."

I hate being appointed Sora's spokesperson.

* * *

After class, I retreated to the clubroom and was surprised to see Sora typing away at the computer in his gym clothes. Naminé was, of course, already there reading a book. Kairi and Riku weren't there yet.

"Where were you today?" I asked him as I sat down in an empty seat.

"In here," he replied without elaborating. "Why don't we get any e-mail?" he suddenly burst out with irritation. "Even with all that publicity, is there no one who needs our services!?"

Face it, Sora. There are no mysteries in this world that would interest you. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I said those words to him. Eh, he'd probably just ignore me or say "Shut up," "No one asked you!" and such.

"Kairi didn't come to class today?" he asked, suddenly noticing the lack of the jittery girl's presence.

"I don't know," I replied. "I'm only a freshman like you, remember?"

"Whatever." He continued typing away at the computer

Half an hour later, Riku entered the clubroom with that same smile on his face. "Sorry I'm late," he said. Wipe that smile off your face, I dare you right now. My glare seems to do nothing to him though. That just sucks.

Sora sighed. "Why isn't Kairi here," he complained. "I bought a new costume for her too."

"Wear it yourself," I blurted out, not paying attention to the conversation. Sora frowned and glared at me.

"Are you insane!?" he asked. I blinked at him. He's calling me insane!? Ha. As if he wasn't insane himself. Though wait a minute. What were we talking about?

"Blah, I'm going home!" he exclaimed and slammed the door shut. This was a surprise: the second day that he's left early.

"Be careful," said Riku, the smile that he had been wearing was now gone. "I wouldn't irritate him too much. This world is sitting rather precariously on the edge of a cliff. Sora can destroy it on a whim if he wanted to."

I frowned, wondering if I should actually believe him. I looked out of the window and prayed to whoever can hear my thoughts to tell me what to do. If I should believe him, then say so and maybe I can say the world isn't as dull as I might think.

As there was nothing to do in the clubroom with Sora returning home early and all, we called it a day early and went our separate ways. I stopped by my locker first and saw a letter sitting neatly on top of the books that were in my locker.

"From Kairi Fischer," I muttered, pulling out the letter from the envelope. On it said: "Meet me in the marketplace at 5PM."

I guess it's a good thing that we called it a day early. I know it takes at least 30 minutes to get to the marketplace from the school campus on bike. Since it was 4:12 PM, it gave me plenty of time to head over to the marketplace and wait for Kairi. Maybe she's going to tell me that she wants to quit the club but is too afraid to talk to Sora himself. Or maybe she likes me and wants a date with me. Wait a minute, why is _she_ the one that's asking me out?

When I got to the marketplace, I was surprised to be about 20 minutes early. So, I parked my bike and began wandering around looking at the stalls. I called home and decided to get some fruits and candy for my family when I return home later. As I finished my impromptu errand, I saw Kairi walking towards me with a peaceful smile on her face.

"Thanks for coming," she said happily.

"Why didn't you come to class today?" I asked. She scratched her head with a nervous laugh.

"I didn't want to face my classmates after what happened yesterday," she replied. "I hope Sora wasn't too irritated."

"Sora's Sora. You can't change how he is," I commented.

"You're right."

"So, is there a reason why you asked me to meet you here?"

"I have a confession to make," she replied. I waited for her to continue. When she didn't, I looked at her weirdly.

"Yes?" I inquired.

"Ah, sorry. I'm trying to figure out how to phrase my words best," she said with a blush.

"Shall we talk about this over dinner then? My treat," I suggested. She smiled.

"Sure."

So, my first high school date took place rather suddenly on a weekday at a fast food restaurant called McScrooge.

"This is my first time," Kairi said happily as she unwrapped her hamburger.

"First time?"

She nodded. "It's my first time to spend time alone with a guy like this," she giggled softly.

I looked at her with surprise. "What? I'll bet you have lots of people asking you out," I said. She blushed lightly.

"But I'm not allowed to get involved." She paused a little bit. "At least not in this timeline," she added softly.

"This timeline?"

"I am not from this time period," she said after several moments of silence. "I guess, you can call me a time traveler."

I blinked at her. I guess it doesn't come as a surprise when Riku has already hinted at the fact that Kairi is a time traveler.

"Time traveler?"

"Yes. Time isn't a continuous event, but rather a series of still frame pictures. Mmm, kind of like a motion picture," she explained. "Time travelers like myself are simply added pictures to the still frames of the movie.

"Continuous time is a very rare event, if not impossible to obtain. That is why time traveling is possible. Time travelers, like myself, are able to move through time like one moves through space."

"So there are other time travelers like yourself in this timeline?" I asked.

"Yes. There are several of us who are here. As for why we are here, it is because of what happened three years ago."

What's with this three years ago!?

"Three years ago, we found that we couldn't move further into the past. A timequake had occurred, thus breaking apart the path into the past. Following the analogy of the motion picture, you can say that someone has cut the film in half and thus the movie started three years ago rather than further past."

"Let me guess, the person who did it is Sora Kazano."

"Yes. We found Sora Kazano at the center of the timequake and no matter what we did, we couldn't travel further back in time. You could say that Sora has the ability to manipulate time or that time came into existence three years ago. I've been ordered to observe Sora to see if any other strange time altering events happen around him."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"You are the one who Sora chose; therefore, you are an important person to him. Every action that he takes has some consequences regarding you."

"What about Naminé and Riku?"

"I think you already know why. I never expected Sora to assemble us in such an efficient manner." That sounds oddly familiar.

"So what is going to happen to Sora now?" I asked, taking a sip from my soda.

"That's classified."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "What would happen if I tell Sora what you just told me?"

"Classified."

I frowned at the red-tape answer. "You're from the future, so you should know right?"

"I can't tell you. I'm sorry, but I don't have the authority to reveal any future events to people in the past. You're just going to have to trust me."

"I see." The rest of the "date" continued on as I mulled over the truthfulness behind Kairi's words.

"I'm sorry to tell you all this, but I just needed to tell you," she said apologetically. "Thanks for listening."

"Ah, I don't really mind…" I said lamely. Truth to tell, I don't know whether to believe her or not. I wonder if Sora wasn't the one who organized this prank on me. I mean, come on! First, Naminé's an alien, Riku's a psychic, and now Kairi's a time traveler. Each one of them has a role exactly like Sora had said. Is it a coincidence or is it actually Sora's godlike power that has brought us all together for the SOS Brigade?

After dinner, we said our good-byes in front of McScrooge and went our separate ways. I never expected my first high school date to be like this! Was it something I did in my past life that landed me in such an odd situation? If so, what can I do to get out? I'm going insane!

* * *

_Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belong to Square Enix. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya belongs to Tanigawa Nagaru. Yada yada yada._

_A/N: I had promised myself that I would post a new chapter when I've finished writing the next chapter, but I seemed to have forgotten that I'm already done with chapter 4. Hope it wasn't that long of a wait. Any questions/comments, feel free to leave it in the review section._


	4. Faceoff Between the Interfaces

**Chapter 4 – Faceoff Between the Interfaces**

* * *

Sometimes I wonder if I was dreaming when I had my conversations with Naminé, Riku, and Kairi. As I woke up the morning after the two days filled with shocking information about the world, Sora, and myself, I came to the conclusion that yes, I was dreaming and that Naminé, Riku, and Kairi were simply figments of my imagination.

Of course, my inner voice chose at that moment to bring the reality into my face. After all, I probably hadn't abandoned my childhood dreams for aliens, time travelers, and psychics if I dreamt about Naminé, Riku, and Kairi. Not to mention, when I stepped into the classroom, Sora's bored face came into view.

Oh, how I wish I had dreamt up Sora just as I had with Naminé, Riku, and Kairi.

"Good morning," I said. Sora looked away and sighed. He seemed rather depressed.

"Why is it so boring?" he complained. "Why can't something interesting happen?"

"That's a dangerous thought," said Zexion. "But you're right that it is rather boring, don't you think?" He attempted to engage Sora in inane chatter to no avail. He shrugged dejectedly and left me to Sora's depression.

I looked down at Sora's downcast face and wonder what had happened for him to act in this manner.

"Are you depressed because no one wants to join the Brigade?"

"After all that publicity, was it all for nothing?"

"Maybe you should just make it into a club where people have fun," I suggested.

"That's boring! I didn't make a club just for that," he said vehemently.

"Sorry."

* * *

During lunch, I left the warm sanctuary of the heated classroom to my locker to grab some books. Surprisingly, another letter in very neat handwriting sat on top of my textbooks. This time, however, there was no name to look for or any hint of the identity of the sender. I pulled the letter out hesitantly and read:

"Come to classroom 1-B at 4 PM after everyone's gone."

Who sent me this? Naminé? Nah, she'd just tell me to read another book or something. Kairi? She's signed her previous note. No sense why she wouldn't this time. Riku? Handwriting seems too neat to be his. Sora? He'd just ask me directly.

For the rest of the day, my mind wandered as the teachers droned on and on about subjects that bored even Zexion Walters, who happened to be the top of the class. I kept thinking back to the letter and the unknown sender. Was this a prank by Axel and Demyx? Or do I have a secret admirer who wants to confess to me and ask me to the winter dance?

Regardless of the intent of the sender, class soon ended and I made my way over to the clubroom to see Riku and Kairi already there along with Naminé. As usual, Naminé sat in her corner reading a book while Riku and Kairi appeared to be engaged in a private conversation. When I entered, they stopped talking and Riku went to pull out a board game. Kairi, in the mean time, picked up a paper bag and left the room.

"Where's she going?" I asked.

"Getting changed," Riku replied while setting up Cranium.

"Changed? What for?"

"Sora told her to start wearing that outfit when she's in the clubroom," he shrugged. "I don't know what it is though."

You sure follow Sora's order to a tee, don't you, Kairi?

"Hey, everyone!" said Sora cheerfully. What happened to the dejected looking boy I saw earlier that morning!?

"Good afternoon, Sora," greeted Riku with that annoying smile on his face. Wipe it off, god damn it!

"Where's Kairi?" he asked. "Is she still sick?"

"Nope, she's getting changed, that's all."

Sora grinned widely and I suddenly felt like I shouldn't be in the clubroom when Kairi comes back.

"Why are you so enthusiastic now?" I decided to inquire, my curiosity getting the better of me.

"I want to see Kairi in her new costume," he replied. Wait a minute here, did he actually answer my question!?

"No, I mean before we told you that Kairi's changing?"

He must've caught himself answering my question, because his next words were: "None of your business."

While we waited for Kairi to return, Sora had gone to his usual place in front of the computer, glaring at it and tapping at the mouse working on something for the website. Meanwhile, I helped Riku finish setting up Cranium before sitting back down in my chair and pulling out my homework due the following day.

After several moments of silence, the door reopened to reveal…

If flies start flying into my mouth, you'll know why.

Kairi stood in the doorway with a reddened face. She was sporting a French maid's outfit with a long black skirt, frilly laces that lined the edges of the skirt and the short puffy sleeves, a pristine white apron, and a cloth tiara-thing-that-I-don't-know the name of. Whatever it's called, it sat on top of her red-haired head rather regally. If one could call looking like a maid being regal that is.

"Oh my god," I could hear Riku whisper next to me. So, I see that you can't always keep up your smile. Score one for Roxas! Or was it for Kairi?

Sora made his way over to the blushing girl and grinned widely; circling around her like a predator does with his prey. Before you know it, he had latched onto the blushing girl like a rabid fangirl who had managed to get her hands on her favorite celebrity or whatever. It was a rather scary image.

"Perfect!" he exclaimed, hugging Kairi tightly as if she were a cute teddy bear. "Kairi, from now on, I want you to wear this whenever you're in the club room, okay?"

"Ummm…" replied Kairi hesitantly, obviously too scared to say "No" to the energetic boy.

"Sora, let her go before she faints please," I said dully. He blew a raspberry at me before returning to his place in the room, which would be in front of the computer. However, he didn't sit down on the chair. Instead, he jumped on top of it and with a wide grin, stated these following words:

"Now then, let us start our first SOS Brigade meeting!"

I won't bore you with the details of Sora's spiel after that, but in summary, we have an outdoors activity planned for this weekend!

Oh joy.

It would seem that Sora can't wait for the mysterious events to come to us. So, we're going to go search for them in the city on Saturday. We would meet in front of the central station at 9 AM to go search around for mysterious things… whatever these so called things may be. I wish Sora would give us a manual defining what is considered mysterious and what is not. Did I just think that? Scratch that. Damn it, Sora. Stop rubbing off on me.

The rest of the time in the club was spent playing Cranium. Surprisingly, Sora decided to join us about halfway through our game to help out me and Riku, who were getting slaughtered by Naminé and Kairi. We managed to enjoy ourselves with a normal activity—even Sora and Naminé smiled at the conclusion of the game.

After we finished the game, Riku commented that he had to head to work while Sora opted to also leave for homework, much to his distaste. Kairi remained behind to do some reading while I prepared to head over to the 1-B classroom to meet this mysterious person who sent me a letter.

When I pulled open the door, I was rather surprised to see none other than Zexion Walters standing in view. The afternoon sun was casting a rather sinister look about the class leader.

"You seem surprised by my presence," he commented lightly.

"Uh, yeah," I replied lamely. "Did you want to talk to me about something?"

"Yes, I do. Please, come in." He walked towards the back of the room and I entered the room, closing the door behind me.

"What did you want to talk to me about?"

"What do you think about Sora Kazano?" I looked at him with slight shock. Don't tell me you're another Kazano fanatic. Oh god.

"You know, I've heard that it's better to regret something you did than to regret something you didn't do. What do you think?"

"Uhhh… I guess it means just what it says. I really don't know what to think of it." I paused a little bit before adding, "To be honest, this is the first time I've heard of the saying."

"I see. So, theoretically speaking, if there was a situation where maintaining the status quo is making things worse, wouldn't it be better to have change, any type of change, to make things better?"

I stared at him with confusion. His ability to establish context seems like Sora's own. "Are you talking about the economy?"

"Wouldn't you think change is better? Nothing will improve if they stay the same after all, right?"

"I guess so…" I believe I had confusion written in permanent marker across my face, but Zexion didn't seem to notice.

"I'm glad you agree. But you know that the leaders are always conservative and dislike change.." he seemed to pause for a bit. "But I can't let things stay the way they are right now. In that case, it should be okay for me to use my own judgment to change things, right?"

What is he talking about? I looked about with confusion.

"I'm rather bored by Sora's rather uninteresting behaviors from day to day. That is why," a smile appeared on his face. A really creepy one, I might add. "I will kill you and see how Sora Kazano reacts."

What? Kill me to see how Sora reacts? Is this some kind of joke?

Before I had a chance to respond to his statement, he lunged at me with a short sword that appeared out of nowhere. Certainly there were no place for him to hide such a weapon in his clothes based on known physics and chemistry. I quickly dodged the lunge and scuffled back to distance myself away from the insane boy.

What the hell is going on? Why is he trying to stab me with a sword? Hold on a minute, wasn't he saying he was going to kill me to see how Sora reacts?

"Stop joking around," I shouted at him with alarm. "That's really dangerous!"

He looked innocently at him and for a moment I thought he didn't know what he was doing.

"Joking? This is no joke, Roxas Uchiyama."

"It's not funny. Just put that dangerous thing down!"

"I can't do that," he grinned, "because I truly want you to die. Are you afraid of dying? I personally don't know concept of death for organic life forms, but I'm pretty sure it's nothing to be afraid of."

He lunged at me again and I dodged rather clumsily. His sword sliced across the front of my jacket and for a brief moment I wondered how I was going to explain this to my mom.

As I turned towards the door for an exit, I was surprised to see a blank gray wall standing in front of me. The afternoon light no longer illuminated the room and a dim light filtered across the room.

"This data space is now under my jurisdiction," Zexion said rather cheerfully. "No one is allowed to enter or leave."

I don't even know what's going on right now! If someone does, come here and explain!

"Just give up. The result will be the same anyway."

"Who are you?" I asked, unable to think of anything better to say to the crazy boy. He simply smiled at me before launching several desks in my direction. I quickly ran away to an open corner and picked up a destroyed desk next to me to throw at the boy. I did notice that the destruction of the classroom revealed a space that was vaguely disturbing, it looked like something out of a science fiction novel where the character is traveling through a wormhole or between dimensions of some sort. The black and white tendrils of wisps created a net that surrounded us. If I wasn't so focused on saving my own life, I probably would have become really disorientated with the lack of concrete ground.

"It's no use," he said when I threw the desk at him. "Everything in this classroom moves according to my will right now." The desk hit a barrier that formed right in front of him and the impact destroyed the desk, leaving the boy uninjured and unfazed by my pathetic attempt to prevent my own death.

This is bad! Why do I have to die? Oh right, to elicit a response from Sora. Man, Sora, you sure are popular! Someone please come help me!

"I should've done this to begin with," he suddenly said.

Crap! I can't move. I call foul!

"If you die, I'm sure Kazano will take some sort of action. This way, there will be a lot of data to observe. It will be a golden opportunity for me!"

I don't care about that!

A crack appeared on the edge of the netlike barrier that surrounded the classroom and an explosion occurred just as Zexion had lunged forth to stab me. With his power broken, I found that I could move again! I fell onto my rear pathetically to see Naminé crouched in front of me with one hand grasping the short sword. Blood from the injured hand dripped onto the ground and I gulped to see the injury.

"Naminé?" I said softly, rather surprised to see the self-claimed alien in front of me. She also didn't seem to mind the fact that her hand was bleeding. What the! I could tell that Zexion was also surprised by her presence, for he had gasped upon seeing her.

"Your individual programs were too weak. This data barrier was also too weak. That is why I could detect you and enter this space," she said to him.

"Are you going to get in my way?" he asked, a frown now on his face. "If he dies, Sora will act and we can take lots of data. Isn't that good?"

"You're only supposed to be my backup," she said calmly. "Permission has not been granted to you to act in this manner. You are supposed to obey me."

"And if I don't want to?"

"Then I will nullify the data links that allow you to exist as an interface." With surprising strength, she wrested the sword from him and threw it off to the side.

"You can try, but I have the advantage here. This data space is under my jurisdiction after all."

"I'm requisitioning the nullification of your link," she said calmly. It was in that moment, even with the insane chatter that came out of the two freshmen's mouths, that I realized that they really aren't ordinary humans.

A string of unintelligible words spewed out from Zexion's mouth as several heavy tomes appeared out of thin air around him. Naminé pulled out a white crayon and also began speaking unintelligibly. The only word that I could come up with for these strings of random words that I couldn't understand is…

Incantations.

She waved her crayon in front of her just as Zexion sent the tomes at us. An invisible barrier appeared in front of her and the tomes exploded upon impact.

"Stay close to me," she said softly, focusing her attention on her enemy.

I watched with morbid fascination as the tomes gradually turned into simple beams of light that continued to blast away at Naminé's shield. He seemed perplexed by the way that Naminé had been able to protect me and herself even though he—what was that he said?—held jurisdiction over this data space.

With one last blast, Naminé's shield broke, but it appeared that Zexion had also spent up the last of his arsenal for this round.

He smiled again. Creepy!

"It's no use," he said. "As long as we remain in here, you cannot defeat me."

Naminé whispered another string of incantations, but this time, it was apparently to confirm what she had planned to do with Zexion.

"Personal Name: Zexion Walters. Status: Hostile. Nullifying target's connection to organic life form."

"You'll cease to function before it happens," he scowled before teleporting closer and closer to us.

I wanted to get another look at the hostile interface, but Naminé, with inhuman strength, pushed me off to the other side as an invisible blastwave shot across the ground where my head would have been. I gulped fearfully. Oh my god, I could've died just then.

"I wonder how long you can last while protecting that thing." What the hell, I'm not even a person anymore!?

Zexion let loose a series of sharp pointy metal poles at me but each of them met another one of Naminé's barrier. I never even saw her movements with her crayon. However, her concentration seemed to have broken because the next scene was ingrained in my head for the rest of my life.

Another series of poles shot out at me but no barrier now stood between them and me. I closed my eyes, waiting for my impending doom when a splatter of liquid hit my face. I opened my eyes to see Naminé standing in front of me, the sharp poles having pierced all over her torso. My eyes widened to see her standing rather calmly there and still very much alive.

"Naminé!" I exclaimed.

"Don't worry, I'm okay," she replied with a slight smile. You don't look fine at all! Especially not with all that blood that dripped down from the spears.

She began systematically pulling out each spear and dropping them onto the ground. When they hit the ground, they turned into the original desks. What the…

"Now that you have suffered intense damage, you won't be able to interfere with any more data," Zexion said with a smile before turning his hands into huge scimitars. "Now, die."

He waved the scimitars at Naminé and pierced through her torso like butter, but still, Naminé seemed unconcerned by this. I felt like throwing up the snacks I had consumed just an hour ago in the clubroom.

"Program complete," she said as she hung in the air with the enormous weapons stuck through her body. "Commence nullification of data link."

Instantly, things around us began to disintegrate into sparkling dust, what I assume to be manifestation of this so-called data that Naminé had talked about. Zexion appeared to be shocked by this and the previously ominous data space was now replaced by sheer whiteness. It was rather blinding actually.

"That's impossible," he said as the swords that were once his hands began to disintegrate much like our surrounding.

"I should commend you for your skill. That is why it took so long to force a program into this space. Regardless, you are done here. Your services as an interface for the Data Integration Thought Entity are no longer needed."

"I see. You had prepared deresolution factors before you infiltrated this space. That would explain why you seemed so weak when we fought."

"Ah, what a shame," he said rather forlornly as his limbs began to disintegrate. "I guess I was always meant to be a backup. And here I thought it would have been a good idea to end this stasis." He looked at me and I had the urge to back up from the disappearing teen.

"Well, I've lost and you get to live another day. But, you better be careful. There are other dissenters amongst the Data Integration Thought Entity and they might also come after you to kill you, or Naminé's master might change its mind and have her destroy you. Enjoy your time with Sora Kazano until then." With one last smile, he said his farewells.

"Bye."

With the disappearance of the hostile interface, Naminé slumped onto the white ground. I quickly went over to her and inspected her injuries.

"Hang in there, I'll call an ambulance right now," I said desperately. She giggled softly, which was rather surprising. She should have died right now but she's laughing!?

"There is no need. My body did not suffer that much damage as Zexion had thought. This space must be normalized first. Repair programs for this organic interface have been placed in queue."

With that said, blasts met my ears as the data space was broken down and reconstructed into the classroom that we had been in. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary by the time she was done. I just knelt next to her rather dumbly. Her clothes were no longer torn—neither were mine—and the blood that had struck out so prominently against her skin—and undoubtedly my own—had been erased. The setting sun casted a dim light in the classroom, but everything was well.

"Are you really alright?" I asked with concern.

"The repairing programs are running now," she said. "Help me up?"

As I helped her up, the door to the classroom opened suddenly and for a brief moment I thought another assassin was going to come and kill me, now that Naminé's so weak. I looked up to see Axel standing in the doorway fiddling with his cell phone

"I forgot my-what the!" he said with surprise as he found me still helping Naminé up. Neither one of us spoke for a moment as we watched a myriad of expressions flashed across my friend's face.

"Sorry. Please continue," he said before running out with a blush on his face.

"Interesting…" Naminé said.

"How am I going to explain this?" I said with exasperation.

"Leave it to me," she said, standing up. "I've made it so that Zexion has transferred out of this school with his parents' work."

That's all you're concerned about!? What about what Axel had just seen!? But wait a minute, I just went through an amazing, though very dangerous, experience didn't I. Sora would've been thrilled with that, I'll bet. I guess I have no choice but to accept that there are aliens, time travelers, and psychics in this world.

* * *

The next day, Zexion Walters never showed up to class. During homeroom, Mr. Leonhart announced the same thing that Naminé had said and the students were all surprised. One of them even stood up to announce her disappointment at the sudden change.

An excited Sora incessantly tapped at my shoulder before leaning forward at me. "Roxas, there's something going on here!" His eyes shone with obvious enthusiasm as he looked at me. What do I do? Do I confess to him the truth about Zexion? Or do I just feign ignorance and pretend that it was a hallucination?

Something tells me he's not going to believe me if I tell him the truth. Fine, I'll just feign ignorance.

"First a mysterious transfer student. Now a boy who's transferred out without any particular reason. This deserves some investigation." I would like it if you didn't give me more work, 'kay thanks.

He must've seen the scowl on my face as I looked out the window.

"What is it?" he asked, relatively concernedly if I may add.

"Nothing."

"This will be the SOS Brigade's first case! We'll investigate into the matter this weekend!"

"What about the city search?" I asked.

"This is more important!"

* * *

Throughout that entire day, my mind wandered from the classroom to think up of an elaborate story regarding myself and Naminé to tell Axel. In the end, however, my unimaginative mind came up with nothing that could convince Axel. So, I decided to just tell him the truth.

Minus the entire battle between Naminé and Zexion, of course.

"So, are you going out with Naminé?" asked Axel as we lined up behind many others waiting for the water fountain after PE class.

I gave him a shrug.

"Naminé Nakahara?" asked Demyx. "The bookworm from class 1-D?"

"The same one," said Axel with a grin. "I saw him and Naminé alone in our classroom yesterday."

Demyx's lips shaped into a surprised "oh". "Well, she is just as weird as Sora."

"Thanks a lot, Demyx," I scowled. "She's a member of Sora's club."

"She's in Sora's club?" asked Axel with a gaping look. Demyx had the same look upon his face, but he was speechless.

I nodded. "That's why she and I were in our classroom yesterday," I said. Oh man, I think they might be buying this story! Granted, it is probably closest to the truth than what I'd ever come up with using my dull brain. "We were running errands for Sora."

"Doing what, rearranging the classroom furniture?"

"Something like that," I grinned.

"I still say that you guys are going out," said Axel. I scoffed at him.

"If you don't believe me, come to the clubroom this afternoon and I'll show you."

"Thanks," said Axel raising his hands up in a show of surrender, "but no thanks. I have to get home early today to get ready for a stupid dinner with my extended family tonight."

"Che, you just don't want to admit that you're wrong and I'm right," I jested playfully. "Demyx?"

"Sorry, I have to pick up my sister from her private lesson this afternoon."

"Ah," I replied rather lamely, suddenly remembering that it was Friday and in all the years I've known Demyx, his parents really like to send their kids to private lessons to "enrich their young lives" as they said when I first met them.

"Oh well, your loss," I grinned. For now, the crisis has been averted!

Sorta.

* * *

That afternoon, the second meeting for the SOS Brigade took place and as usual, we have nothing to say to Sora as he announced our change of plans for the weekend. I looked over at Naminé, who sat there unfazed by Sora's decision to investigate into the matter of Zexion's transfer. She must think that Sora would find the entire transfer to have normal circumstances and disregard the matter in the end.

Sora left for home early again, but with a bounce in his step. So the rest of us were left to our own devices. Kairi made some coffee for us while we worked on our homework and at the end of the day, we had nothing else better to do but to go home.

As we packed our things up, Riku pulled on my sleeve.

"Do you have time right now?" he asked me with all seriousness.

"Uh, I think so," I replied, remembering that today was Thursday.

"I will show you proof of my powers," he replied.

"Ah…"

Lovely, another incredible experience. Just don't make it so that there's an assassin waiting to kill me, please!

* * *

_Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belong to Square Enix. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya belongs to Tanigawa Nagaru. Yada yada yada._

_A/N: Hehe, I enjoyed writing the fight scene in this chapter, even though it is rather sad that Roxas isn't all powerful like Naminé is. Anyways, somewhere along the way as I was writing the thoughts of Roxas, I think I might've mixed up the tenses. I've gone through and proofread them, but I'm pretty sure I missed a couple. Oh well, makes more sense to have things not make sense. After all, Roxas is confused enough already, we should sympathize with him!_


	5. Closed Space

**Chapter 5 – Closed Space**

* * *

So, like an obedient little dog, I followed Riku over to the school gate where a taxi sat in neutral waiting for us. I raised an eyebrow at the sight and was highly tempted to just go home and rest rather than get into the taxi and follow the guy to wherever it was that he was going to take me.

"Taxi?" I asked as we got in.

"Our destination is in Twilight Town," he explained. "Taxi is the fastest way for us to get there."

"Is there any reason why we're going there?"

"Remember what I said? I can only display my powers in a certain location when certain conditions have been met," he said with all seriousness. The taxi had gotten onto the speedway.

"You really think Sora is a god, don't you…" I said softly. He didn't seem to hear my comment.

"Are you aware of the anthropic principle?"

"The what?"

"The anthropic principle," he said like it's common knowledge. "If something is true for us, then, since we exist, that something is true because we exist."

I blinked with confusion at his words. That isn't even circular logic; it's more like illogic.

"I don't understand," I said truthfully.

"In other words, I observe, therefore the universe exists."

"I see."

"Basically, the existence of the universe would remain unknown if there were no humans like us to observe them through the discoveries of laws of physics and matter."

"I guess what you're saying is similar to the saying 'If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, did it actually happen', right?"

"Something like that."

"But you know it happens, doesn't matter if there are anyone around," I added.

"That is true, that is why it's a theory."

"So why are you telling me all this?" I looked out the window. We were driving across the bridge that connected Twilight Town to Radiant Garden.

"I once said that the world may have been created three years ago by Sora Kazano."

"Yeah, I remember."

"He has the ability to realize his own wishes whether he is conscious of that wish or not. He knows that aliens exist and thus there is Naminé. He believes that time travelers exist and thus there is Kairi. And finally, he wished that psychics exists; that is why I'm here. We exist because Sora exists. He mentally sees the presence of aliens, time travelers, and psychics and thus we exist."

"How do you know?"

"I don't know how. I just know. To know that Sora Kazano has created this world and find this world to be boring is rather terrifying."

"Why?"

"If he is capable of creating this world at will, he can just as easily destroy it and create a new world from scratch."

"Then why don't you tell him that you exist? Why not reveal your true identity?"

"If Sora finds people like me to be a common occurrence, there would be more psychics in the world, the laws of physics would be bent and the order of the universe would be in chaos. It is better that he does not know about the truth."

"Okay, let me ask you another question then. If Sora has wished for you guys to exist, why hasn't he noticed your existence yet?"

"Isn't it odd?" he grinned. "His wish for us to exist contradicts his common sense, which states that we cannot exist. Even though he is eccentric, he remains a normal person with rational reasoning. That is why he hasn't noticed our existence."

"It is rather interesting," he continued, "that _you_ are the one who reignited Sora's passion in the supernatural."

"What, me?"

"Your conversation with him inspired him to create this questionable club and to gather Naminé, Kairi, and I. Everything that has happened in the last two months is your fault."

"That's a false charge," I said, even though inside I thought that if I hadn't given him the idea, this might've never happened. Maybe it was Sora who made me thought that way. Damn it, why am I thinking like I believe Riku right now?

The taxi came to a stop outside of central station and we got off.

"This way," he said, leading me to a downward slope that led to the Tram commons. As we neared the tram commons however, he stopped short.

"I know it's too late now having gone this far, but you're more than welcome to leave," he said.

I shrugged. "You've piqued my interest."

He grinned. "Then close your eyes for a little bit." I followed suit and closed my eyes. He then grabbed my hand and we walked forward to the Tram commons.

"You can open your eyes again."

I looked about me with surprise. Everything was in shades of gray, the lack of colors was rather disconcerting.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Closed space."

"Closed space?"

"It is a void within a dimensional fault, where the laws of physics and matter are absent. The border of this space happened to be between Station Heights and the Tram commons." He turned about to touch an invisible barrier. "You can't gain entry through ordinary physical means. I am able to because of my powers."

"So what's going on outside?"

"Everything's happening as normal on the outside," he said as he led me up a set of stairs to the top of the building in the middle of the plaza. "An average person would be unable to enter this space, usually anyways."

"These spaces occur completely randomly. However, it is certain that they are the result of Sora's frustrations with the world. Yesterday, he was annoyed right? That is when this space has manifested. It starts out as a dot then grows gradually. Regardless of Sora's mood, it will continue to grow unless psychics like me destroy the space."

"So why don't you destroy it right now?" I looked about the grayish area without any hint of surprise.

"This space has not grown large enough for my offensive powers to manifest yet," he commented. "I must say, I'm impressed. You don't seem the least bit surprised by this."

After being at the brink of death the previous afternoon, this doesn't seem that odd at all.

"I've been through a lot lately," I commented.

"I won't ask," he replied with another grin. He suddenly turned his attention toward east and I followed his gaze. The sight of a giant humanoid being appearing from the darkness was a sight to behold.

"Looks like it's starting."

"What is?"

"The destruction of this space."

The giant beings were grey like their surroundings but glowed slightly as they moved about within the Closed space. Their limbs tapered into sharp points at the end where their hands and feet should be while their heads appeared to have no eyes. They seemed to writhe even as they stood silently in the distant. Their entire shape just shouted "danger!" to me.

"What are they?"

"Sora calls them Nobodies," he answered. "Creatures without a heart who are here to vent Sora's frustrations. If we keep waiting, you will see why. We call them 'angels' since they are the closest thing that's related to Sora himself."

When the Nobodies began to move, they seemed to glide across the space with ease. One of they leapt up and landed upon one of the buildings in the distance, destroying it. Another was tearing down the wall that separated the Tram commons to the Old forest that stood next to Twilight Town. As they continued to wreak havoc in the space, I couldn't help but feel scared once again for my life.

"Do you guys just let them run rampant?" I asked hastily. Riku laughed heartedly.

"No. My colleagues and I serve as the medicine for Sora's frustration manifestations. In a sense, we're angel hunters. Look there," he pointed toward one of the Nobodies and a streak of white light moved about the Nobody rather swiftly. A streak of blue soon joined the first while a streak of green moved about another Nobody.

"My colleagues," he commented. "Now, if you'll excuse me, it is time for me to join them." With that, a swirl of blackness changed into a strange sword in his hand while a yellow light surrounded him and I could see lightning coming out of his body as his powers manifested in front of me. He rose up and zoomed off toward the Nobodies, joining in the fray with his colleagues.

"Why does this remind me so much of Power Rangers?" I muttered as I watched with fascination. A red streak of light had also joined in and while the Nobodies attempted to swat at the psychics, they were moving too fast for the large beings. Soon, the Nobodies were broken up into pieces that exploded into black dust as they fell to the ground. The sight was unlike Naminé's reconstruction of the classroom.

The psychics each went their separate ways while Riku's yellow light zoomed toward me. He landed softly on the roof next to me and the lightning that surrounded him faded away.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," he said.

"Ah, it wasn't long," I replied lamely. I don't know why, but I felt privileged to have seen such strange sights in my short high school life. I wondered if I will be seeing more fantastical things in the future.

No, bad line of thinking. I'm starting to think like Sora, crap.

"There is one more thing I want you to see here," Riku said, looking up at the gray sky. "Once the angels have been destroyed, the destruction of the Closed space is a sight to behold.

I looked up and gasped as cracks slowly appeared in the ceiling of this space. Slowly, the thin cracks spread across the entire border and white light filtered through dimly. Once the cracks had reached the ground, the entire border collapsed in a brilliant shower of white stars.

With the Closed space gone, I found that we were back in the real world and sounds of traffic met my ears. The sounds were almost deafening after staying in the Closed space for however long we were in there.

"Do you believe me now?" he asked as he led us down to the Tram commons.

"Ah, I do now," I replied. "Thanks for showing me that."

"No problem." We stopped in front of central station and he called for another Taxi to return to Radiant Garden. Throughout the ride, I simply mulled over the past two days I lived through. First, the awe-inspiring powers of Naminé Nakahara; now, the mysterious powers of Riku Hamilton. I wonder if Kairi's powers would be just as interesting as the other two.

When I laid on the bed that night before bed, I wondered if Sora would be jealous of me if he knew that I have witnessed the mind-bending powers of an alien and a psychic. Somehow, I doubt it since he would have to know that he has the power to change the world. And the knowledge about what would happen if Sora knows about his own latent abilities suddenly frightened me. For the first time since I've met the other three, I finally understand why it is that they were all concerned about Sora. Why Sora is such a frightening being in this normal and otherwise boring world.

* * *

That weekend, as proposed, the SOS Brigade met up in front of the clock tower in the center of the city. Even though we had said that we were going to meet up at 9 AM and I was on time, I ended up being the last one there. Sora's irritated face was one that I wasn't likely to forget anytime soon.

"You're late!" he said sternly. "Penalty!"

Sora's idea for penalty is to treat everyone who was there before me to a drink at a nearby café. It was also there that Sora detailed what he had found out about Zexion over the past day while they were at school.

"No one on staff knew that Zexion had transferred until that day!" he exclaimed. "And when I asked about where he transferred to, they said Destiny Islands. Destiny Islands? That sounds like a load of baloney to me!"

"I heard that the Islands start school way later than we do," said Kairi meekly. Of course, Sora wouldn't be listening to her.

"Anyways, when I asked for the address of his new residence, none of them knew! Don't you usually leave behind your new contact information when you're moving?"

Not that I've known…

"So, I got his old address and we'll go there right after we're done here."

"What do you intend on doing when we get there?" I asked, stirring my Chai tea with my straw.

"Ask around, poke around, you know, the usual detective stuff."

So like a bunch of Watsons to our own aspiring Sherlock Holmes, the rest of the SOS Brigade followed Sora to the same posh apartment that Naminé lived in.

At first, Sora stood like a fool right outside the apartment gate since he didn't know the passcode to get into the apartment. However, when Naminé stepped up and entered the code, he was rather surprised.

"You live here, Naminé?"

"Yes."

"Wow," he said with awe. Even someone as geeky as Sora can be awed by the fancy stuff eh!?

We entered the reception area where a security guard sat rather bored at the security desk. Upon seeing Naminé, he waved us off nonchalantly, obviously assuming that we were with Naminé.

"Does the landlord live here?"

"Yes," replied Naminé just as quietly. We stood in front of the elevator waiting for it to arrive.

"Where does he live?" he asked impatiently. Naminé pointed down the corridor to our right.

"Number?" Sora had started down in that direction already.

"Eleven."

Sora marched down the corridor and stopped in front of the wooden doors that were marked with gold numbers: 11. I never realized this before when I was with Naminé, but this place looked like it was a posh hotel or something. Something like the high style resident buildings that are on Destiny Islands. Hmm, now that I think about it, it wouldn't seem too surprising for Zexion to move from this place to the Islands after all.

Our fearless leader knocked crisply on the door marked number eleven and waited silently as shuffles of feet came muffled across the door.

"What is it?" a gruff voice came muffled across the threshold.

Sora looked over to me and I looked over to Riku who looked over to Kairi. We were being rather childish at that point.

"We're friends of Zexion Walters," I said when it was clear that Kairi wasn't going to say anything.

The door opened to reveal a rather disgruntled man who looked nothing like I had expected him to look like. I had expected a man in a suit and such rather than a man wearing a light blue shirt with a white scarf, a pair of baggy brown pants with too many pockets than I cared to count, a pair of brown boots, and a goggle on his head. A goggle? What the hell? I noticed that he had a smoking cigarette dangling on the corner of his lips even though I distinctly remembered a sign at the front door that said no smoking allowed in the apartment. Kairi must've noticed it as well since she wrinkled her nose in distaste.

"Walters moved out already," he said gruffly. "What do you want?"

"Is there any way for us to get in touch with him?" asked Sora eagerly. The manager ruffled his graying hair and shook his head.

"Didn't leave a note about where he'd be."

"But what about his family?"

"Family? He lives in his apartment by himself," he said after stamping out his cigarette butt on an ashtray next to the door. "Tell you what, I'll let you into his apartment and let you figure where your friend go on your own." I raised an eyebrow at this. Did this man have some kind of power? How the hell would he want to let us poke around an expensive apartment?

"That would be nice," said Riku with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah," he said rather dismissively. "Wait here." He then retreated into his own apartment to get the master key. I looked over to Riku, who shrugged at my unsaid accusation that this man would be one of his colleagues at this so-called Agency. I looked over to Kairi, who shook her head with a smile on her face. Finally, I looked over to Naminé, who disregarded my questioning look by staring straight ahead. Typical for her to disregard my curiosity, she is, after all, more concerned with observing Sora.

"He doesn't live here with his family," muttered Sora softly mostly to himself. If it wasn't for the fact that Sora didn't bring a memo pad or a pen with him, I would've undoubtedly seen him writing down those notes like a police detective.

Several moments of silence passed us by as Sora continued to mull over the latest development in this case of the disappearance of Zexion Walters. The rest of us were left to our own thoughts. I had found the way the carpet glimmered under the florescent light a sudden fascinating thing to observe. It was like a piece of glorious art left in the private collection of an ignorant collector, hidden from art aficionado's eyes.

Eventually, the manager of the complex returned to the door and shuffled out lankily with a toothpick sitting where his cigarette had sat just a few minutes ago.

"I've never known Zexion to have such concerned friends," said the manager as he chewed on the piece of toothpick. I hope he doesn't trip and jab himself in the back of the throat with that thing. I can see it on the headline: Man dies from hemorrhage caused by toothpick.

"It was just so sudden that he transferred out," said Sora, feigning concern. At least, I think he feigned concern. After all, he never talked to Zexion when prompted and seem to think the boy a nuisance in the class.

"Ah, yes," the manager replied gruffly. "It was rather sudden for me too, but I guess his parents found that they couldn't keep up with the rent."

"How much is the rent here anyways?" I asked casually, earning a glare from Sora since I had obviously interrupted his line of questioning.

"Depends. 10000 Munny a month for a single, 16000 for a double, and 20000 for a double suite."

"Sounds more like a hotel, eh?" added Riku. I goggled at the prices. 10000 Munny!? I would be happy to be able to see 1000, let along 10000! Of course, I would never show my surprise in front of the others. My face is as deadpan as always. What a nice ability.

I looked over to Sora, whose eyes lit up upon hearing the exorbitant rent at this place. I wonder what mental gears are turning in that head of his. Perhaps he's come up with the idea that Zexion is the heir of a rich family and has been murdered for his money. Hmm, starting to sound like an actual murder mystery novel, don't you think?

The manager shrugged as we reached the elevators. Sora had resumed his interrogation of the disgruntled man as we rode the elevator up to the eighth floor.

Sora continued to hound the man as we walked across the carpeted floor to number five. It was only when the manager opened the door to the apartment that Sora stopped talking. The manager stepped aside and allowed us in. Within, it was clear that someone had moved out. The main room was devoid of any furniture and I'll bet the other rooms are like that too.

"I'll leave you guys here, just close the door when you're done," the gray-haired man said.

"Don't need to lock it?" I asked.

"It autolocks," he replied. "But, if you're in need of an apartment, come see me. I'm Cid Highwind."

"Thanks…" I replied when none of my companions would. The man smirked and waved good-bye before letting the door shut behind him. I turned around to see Sora walking into the kitchenette while Riku walked into the bedroom. I followed Sora into the kitchenette while Naminé followed Riku into the bedroom.

Sora was opening and closing all the cabinets when I reached the area. Of course, there was nothing there. He turned on the stove and checked the light, and still nothing was out of the ordinary. He then proceeded to stalk out of the kitchenette and flung open the curtains that had dimmed the main living room. Light immediately filtered into the large space and I could see particles of dust dancing in the air, but not enough to indicate that the area hasn't been occupied for longer than three days.

At that point in time, Riku and Naminé exited the bedroom and the silver-haired teen shrugged his shoulders. Of course there wouldn't be anything here! Zexion didn't die here after all!

Sora, being the skeptic that he is, entered the bedroom to see an old mattress sitting forlornly on the bedframe. No other piece of furniture could be seen. To the left of the entryway was a pair of sliding doors, undoubtedly for the closet. Sora slid the doors open and saw nothing save for a couple of rickety metal hangers that I would've left behind if I was moving out of an apartment.

The boy, who was becoming more frustrated by the lack of strangeness, hastily pushed the mattress off of the bedframe, much to my dismay. That means I have to right the heavy mattress when Sora's done. Riku, who had followed us into the area, noticed my dismay and while Sora entered the bathroom, he and I lifted the heavy mattress and set it back on the bedframe. When we were done, our brigade leader returned to the main living room and we all scurried out to join him.

He took one last look around and with a huff, said, "Today's activity is over! You may all go home!"

The other three seemed rather worried by his behavior. So worried that when I started to follow Sora out, Naminé held onto my sleeve to stop me for a second.

"Be careful," she said simply.

"Uh, I will…" I replied, confused as to what she was referring to.

With that, I followed Sora out of the apartment building and started to escort him home.

Even though I had no idea where his house was.

"Did you actually expect to find something?" I asked in all seriousness. For a moment, he didn't reply and I wonder if he had heard me at all. Suddenly, he had stopped walking and I stopped as well, waiting for him to say something.

"When I was little, I was so fascinated by the world," he started to say. "I felt like there was nothing in the world that I couldn't do. I felt very special. Everyday, I would wake up, eat my breakfast, go to school, and do everything a carefree child did."

He took a pause and I felt no need to interrupt him. After all, he seemed to be talking rather reasonably for once!

"Then, three years ago, I found out that I wasn't special. All the other kids were like me, wake up, eat breakfast, go to school, go home, and so on. I wasn't special at all. That's why I began reading about aliens, time travelers, and psychics. That is why I'm searching for them, wanting to meet them. I want my life to be special, to be unique and different from everyone else's life. Is that so much to ask for?"

I had nothing witty to reply to that. After all, even though his wish is selfish, I could see the reasoning behind it.

"Don't you wish life is different?" he asked me with a forlorn tone before turning to walk home by himself. I stood there mulling over his words and the nostalgic wish in middle school for the abnormal entered my mind. Deep within my heart, I suddenly wished for the same thing that Sora wanted.

* * *

_Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belong to Square Enix. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya belongs to Tanigawa Nagaru. Yada yada yada._

_A/N: Someone pointed out the fact that I made a mistake in referring to Zexion as a girl. He is in fact a guy still. The character that he's based on from the original novel is a girl, that's why I made a slip and wrote a girl rather than a boy when Sora was talking to Roxas. Thanks for pointing that out. Somehow towards the end I felt kind of rushed in Sora's description of his childhood. Maybe another day I'll come back and expand it, but until then, I'll stick with the gist of normalcy that his childhood had._


	6. Closed Space, Take 2

**Chapter 6 – Closed Space, Take 2**

* * *

As I walked home that late afternoon, having spent money excessively with Sora's demands during lunch, I couldn't help but ponder upon Sora's words. He was once normal! I supposed that it made sense. I had once desired the same thing Sora wanted, even though not to the extent that he wished for them.

"Oh?" I stopped short when I saw a rather familiar person standing in front of my house. However, the fact that she was taller and seemed more grown up made me think at first that it was Kairi's older sister or something.

"Ah! Roxas," she said cheerfully as she noticed my presence. "Long time no see!"

I was confused. Long time no see? I've never met her before in my life!

"Uh… Are you Kairi's sister?" I asked. She looked at me with surprise.

"No, it's me, Kairi!" she exclaimed. "I come a future later than the Kairi you know," she added. When she saw my face of disbelief, she huffed. "Here, I'll prove it to you." She then proceeded to describe my date with her younger self at McScrooge on a Wednesday night and that she had confessed that it was her first date.

"You were also the one who taught me how to use a Struggle bat," she concluded. I blinked at her with confusion.

"Struggle bat? I haven't touched a Struggle bat in months," I commented. She blinked at me and her face suddenly reddened.

"Oh my gosh, that's not good! I-Please forget everything I just said!" she said flustered. That mannerism was strangely like Kairi's.

"Uh… okay…" I said, even though it was actually easier said than done. "I'll believe you anyways."

"Thank you," she smiled.

"Wait a minute," I suddenly realized. "Does that mean there are two Kairis co-existing at the same time?"

She nodded. "My younger self is currently walking home from the marketplace right now."

"Ah… So, why are you here?" I asked as her smile turned less cheerful. Her heart-shaped face had a serious look upon them and somehow I had the feeling that she bore bad news for me.

"I can't stay here long, so I'll be brief. You are in grave danger."

News to me!

"Can you be more specific?" I inquired curiously, ignoring the nagging little voice of reason that said that she wasn't going to go into details.

"Sorry, I can't give you the specifics, but I know that it will happen fairly soon. And Sora will be with you when it happens." Damn it, I knew it! Wait, what? Sora will be with me when it happens? Oh crap.

"What can I do?"

"Do you remember the story of the Sleeping Beauty?" she asked suddenly. I blinked at her slightly perplexed.

"Yes, I do. Why?"

"When it happens, please remember the story of the Sleeping Beauty."

"Um, okay."

"Anyways, I have to go." She bowed in respect. "Please take care of me while I remain in this timeline," she said before waving good-bye.

"Bye," I waved back as she ran down the street and rounded a corner out of sight. I stood in the orange light of the setting sun and ruffled my own spiky hair, frustrated by the fact that my life seem inextricably linked to Sora's now.

"Argh," I groaned with exasperation. "Give me a break already!" I sighed resignedly and entered into my house, notifying my family of my return with a shout.

* * *

As I lay in my bed that night after a filling dinner, I couldn't help but think back on Kairi and Naminé's words. "Be careful" and "Sleeping Beauty" are such odd advices that I don't even know if I should take them seriously. Yet, with all the extraordinary stuff I've been seeing these past few weeks, maybe it would be a good idea to take them seriously…

"Roxas!" came my brother's voice as he barged into my room without knocking. I sat up on my bed and glared at my older brother by four years, Tidus Uchiyama. It's a good thing I'm not going to the high school he did. Every teacher would call me "Tidus's little brother" then, I'll bet.

"What?" I grumbled as he sat down in my swivel chair and began rummaging through my desk drawers.

"Do you know where the paper cutter is?"

"Dad has it," I replied. "Now get out."

Before I continue on, I'd like to explain something. The Uchiyama family had moved from Midgar, the capital of smog and pollution, to Radiant Garden three years ago. My brother, who had already started a year of high school, didn't want to transfer over to Radiant Garden High. So, he ended up staying in Midgar with our cousins. Now, three years later, he's graduated from Midgar High and is now attending the nearby Twilight Town University.

"Oh," Tidus held his hands over his heart with mocked hurt, "I'm hurt, Roxas." Did I mention he's majoring in film studies?

"Yeah, whatever," I replied, pulling out a book from my bookbag that sat next to my bed. Before I got a chance to flip it open, Tidus had wrapped his left arm around my neck and proceeded to give me a noogie.

"God damn it, Tidus," I scowled as he tousled my hair. "Get off." With effort, I freed myself from his arm and glared at him as I tried to salvage my poor hair.

He grinned and waved bye before disappearing from my sight.

"Oy, knock before you open the door next time!" I shouted after him. I closed the door and looked over to my clock: ten o'clock.

I went back to the book that I had pulled out and began reading, all the while having the Beatles in the background.

An hour later, I found myself dozing off. With a sigh of annoyance, since I had really wanted to finish the book, I replaced my bookmark and turned off the lights. I pulled the covers over myself and closed my eyes.

* * *

Do you know why we dream? It's because the brain, while resting, is replenishing the neurotransmitters that had been spent during the day. As such, even though you're resting, your brain remains active, though less active than when conscious. Of course, sometimes vivid dreams simply mean that your brain has undergone too much stress lately and thus you don't actually rest well.

In the days after this night, I often wonder if it had been a dream, or if it was actually real… Knowing Sora, it was probably real.

It probably hadn't been an hour since I went to sleep when I heard the soft voice of Sora getting louder and louder.

"Roxas, Roxas! Wake up!"

"Just five more minutes," I hear myself reply sleepily.

"I told you to wake up!" A slap on my face pulled me from the sweet rest that I sorely needed.

I opened my eyes to find Sora's rather irritated face hovering over my own. He backed off as I sat up, noticing for the first time that I had been lying down on the dirt ground at the school campus.

"Do you know where we are?" he asked. I looked over him and noticed that he had a rather concerned look on his face.

"I had thought that I woke up in the morning originally," he continued before I had a chance to answer him. "But then I found myself in this strange place and you were lying down next to me."

I looked around and frowned. The environment was strangely familiar, but the atmosphere is so still that it could only meant one thing.

Closed space. Oh crap, they were right.

I clapped my hands on my cheek and noticed that it had stung slightly. I'm awake, all right.

"Why are we at school?" he asked rather worriedly. "I knew I had gone to bed so how did I end up here?"

"Beats me," I replied, taking another look around at the Closed space. "Have you seen Riku?" I asked.

"No, why do you ask?" he seemed curious by my line of questioning.

"No particular reason," I decided to answer. "Anyways, let's just try to escape from school," even though I had a feeling that we can't leave the space. After all, I'm no psychic like Riku, not a time traveler like Kairi, and definitely not an alien-human interface like Naminé. I began my way toward the nearest school gate.

"You don't seem very surprised," he commented.

Oh no, I'm very surprised. I never expected to end up in a Closed space without Riku, much less with Sora by myself.

"I'll be surprised if we bump into someone here," I muttered under my breath.

"What?" Sora asked as he followed me.

"Nothing."

We reached the school gate and my suspicions were proved correct. An invisible barrier blocked our way out and shimmered as we touched it.

"What is this?" Sora asked with surprise as he continued to poke at the barrier, as if holes would appear where he touched.

"A barrier," I replied before turning around and heading toward the main gate. Sora followed suit and once again, we found our way blocked by the invisible barrier of the Closed space.

"Looks like this extend around the entire school campus," I commented.

Sora did not look happy at all.

In the end, we decided to venture into the empty school buildings with Sora following closely behind me. I looked at him out of the edge of my eyes and found him looking rather apprehensive about this entire place.

"You can tell me if you're scared," I commented. The brown-haired boy humphed and jumped in front of me to take "control" of the situation.

We made our way over to the school offices and broke in by breaking the window with a fire extinguisher. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow as we broke in.

"If we wanted to get out, I'm sure it's fine for us to break a window or two," he replied reasonably. Only you would think that way. But, seeing how this is actually Closed space, this damage probably wouldn't show up in the real world.

Sora jumped into the unlit office and picked up the nearest telephone. Silence met my ears as I strained to catch a wisp of the dial tone.

"Doesn't seem to work," he commented, placing the receiver back onto its cradle.

I thought as much.

Eventually, we made our way over to the clubroom, which, surprisingly, had the lights turned on before we were there. I pulled out the can of instant coffee that we stored in the cabinet and made a cup of French roast coffee for myself.

"Do you want a cup?" I asked Sora, who was staring out of the window into the darkness. I joined him at the window and scanned the Dark Depths as well as the silent city of Radiant Garden.

"This place gives me the creeps," he admitted, ignoring my previous inquiry about coffee. "Why is everything so dark? Why am I here? Why are you here?"

"I don't know," I replied sincerely, which was very much true. I don't know why in the world I would be in this Closed space with Sora at all.

With dramatic effect, Sora turned around with a determined look on his face. "I'm going to go explore," he announced. "You stay here."

I sat down in my designated seat and watched as Sora left the room.

"Heh, that's to be expected of him," I said aloud to no one in particular.

As I prepared myself for a long night of waiting for Riku and this psychic agency to come rescue us, a bright yellow sphere of light zoomed across the darkness and entered into the clubroom through the semi-open window. The sphere changed its shape and the outline of a familiar teen appeared in front of me.

"What took you so long, Riku?" I asked with a frown on my face. "Though I had expected you in a more… tangible form."

"My apologies," he said. "I'll be straightforward. This is an unexpected event. The Closed space that you and Sora are in right now do not conform to the same restrictions as the other Closed spaces that my colleagues and I have been to. As thus, I had to borrow the powers of my colleagues in order to infiltrate this space. Even then, who knows how long I will have in here. It is as we feared, our powers are disappearing. Sora had given up on the real world and is now creating a brand new world."

"What do you mean by that?"

"This Closed space is made on a different dimension. One completely separated from the old world. Perhaps all of the previous Closed spaces were simply practice runs for the actual thing. Regardless of all this, the old world has lost its god and is on the verge of Armageddon. Maybe Sora will be kind and let it continue to exist without change, but he might also destroy it in the next second. We will never know. Nevertheless, I surmise that a familiar scene will appear fairly soon."

"I don't get it, why am I the only one besides Sora who's here?"

"Do you really not know?" Riku asked with surprise clearly in his voice. "I would've thought that you know already."

I frowned more. Fine, call me oblivious.

"You were chosen by Sora Kazano: the only person from the old world that he truly wants to be with. Remember, you were the one who started this entire mess," he joked.

"Thanks for reminding me," I scowled. "But am I destined to just live out the rest of my life in this dreary place with Sora?"

"Knowing Sora, he'll have sense enough to create other people before the night ends. Of course, who these other people are, I'll let you guess." Riku's outline began blurring. "It would appear that my time is almost up. It was a shame that I couldn't have spent more time with you and Sora. And if I do get reborn in this world, please take care of me."

"Riku…" I said rather forlornly.

"Ah, before I forget. I have some messages to deliver from Kairi and Naminé. Kairi wanted to apologize, saying 'I'm sorry. It's all my fault.' Naminé said to turn on the computer." Riku's form returned back into the yellow sphere. "Well, this is it. Hope to see you again." With that, the sphere faded away, leaving me with quite a burden to bring myself and Sora back to the old world.

I growled with annoyance before turning my attention to the computer. I turned it on but the monitor remained blank with a single cursor at the top left hand corner, as if I had to use DOS commands to access the stupid thing.

A line suddenly appeared in the screen.

_N.N.: Can you read this?_

I immediately typed back. _Yeah_.

_N.N.: It would appear that the time-space connection between these two dimensions have not been severed yet. But it is only a matter of time. The dimension that you currently reside in is derived from the old dimension; that is how I can communicate with you._

_What can I do?_

_N.N.: Nothing. Nothing can be done. Both you and Sora Kazano have disappeared from our dimension completely. The Data Integration Thought Entity is in despair. Even though we have observed Sora Kazano in an attempt to solve the mystery for autoevolution, it would appear that the process remains elusive. We do not know what will happen if Sora remains in this new dimension._

_I can't just sit here and do nothing._

_N.N.: It is unfortunate that we did not get a chance to spend more time with each other. I enjoyed Sora and your company in this dimension. I'm betting on you, however._

_Betting on me?_

_N.N.: You will be able to bring Sora back with you to our dimension._

_How?_

_N.N.: Another trip to the library might be helpful_

The screen was beginning to fade. "Naminé!" I cried with alarm.

The last line before the connection between this world and the old world was severed completely was "_Sleeping Beauty_".

I remembered that Kairi also told me to remember the story of Sleeping Beauty. Are they insinuating something here? That Sora is actually dreaming? That might actually make sense, seeing how weird this entire situation is.

Before I got a chance to think more about their cryptic hints, a deafening sound coupled with a sudden flash of light came from behind me as the lights in the clubroom went out. I turned to look out the window and saw a most unwelcoming sight.

Of course, seeing how we're in Closed space, I really shouldn't be surprised to see Nobodies there.

As I continued to goggle at the appearance of the giant Nobody, the door to the clubroom suddenly slammed open as Sora eagerly ran over to me.

"Roxas! Roxas! What is it? It's a monster right? I'm not dreaming right? Maybe it's an alien? Or maybe a secret weapon created by some secret race?"

I looked at Sora's eager face silently before grabbing a hold of his hand and pulling him out of the room behind me.

"Hey, what's going on?" he asked with surprise. A shock to the building caught us unbalanced and we stumbled onto the ground in the corridor. I looked around me to see if there were any hazards to look out for.

"Do you think it will attack us?" Sora suddenly asked.

"I don't know." Which was perfectly true, seeing how the Nobody is a destructive creature but seeing how Sora's its master, I seriously don't know if the Nobody will attack us.

I ran out of the clubroom building dragging Sora with me and saw the debris of glass and concrete from the destruction that the Nobody was wreaking upon the school buildings.

"What is with this strange world? And that giant? It is so very intriguing."

"Don't you want to go back to the old world?" I asked. "Don't you want to see the others again?"

"I don't care. I'm having fun right now. After all, we've just found a supernatural thing!"

"I want to go back. I want to talk to the others again." I paused a bit before adding softly. "There are so many things I still want to tell them."

"I'm sure we'll see them again. The sun will rise tomorrow."

"I'm not talking about that!" I said vehemently, dragging him down toward the track, where there wouldn't be dangerous debris crashing down on us. "I want to talk to them in the old world, not in this world. I want to meet the old them."

We had been running across the field when Sora suddenly stopped and pulled his hand away from me. I stopped as well, panting with exhaustion after running for the past five minutes straight.

"I don't get it," he replied with a frown on his face. "Weren't you sick of the boring old world?"

"I was," I admitted. "But being in this situation reminded me of something. Even though I might've complained a lot, I liked the way my life was. I liked everyone who was part of my old life as annoying as they might be. And to be quite honest…" I found that I had no words to continue with what I was going to say. Sora might have wanted me to continue, but the sudden appearance of more Nobodies near us pulled his attention away from me.

If someone were to ask me what Sora meant to me, I probably would've replied that Sora is just Sora. But at the same time, I knew he meant something more than just another classmate in my class. After all, I've been through so much lately because of him. The world is revolving around him and I'm caught in the middle of everything that's going on. My life has been turned upside down because of him. Even though I didn't like what's been happening, I'm glad it happened. So to say that Sora is just another classmate… No, that's not right. Sora is Sora and no one can ever replace him in my heart.

As the Nobodies got closer to us, I finally realized the meaning of "Sleeping Beauty". I turned Sora toward me and looked at him seriously.

"To tell you the truth, I liked you better when you were wearing your old clothes."

"What?" he looked at me with disbelief.

"Remember the start of the school year when you wore the navy jacket and shorts? You looked better in them."

"Are you being intentionally retarded or something?" he replied sarcastically. But when he noticed that I was actually being sincerely, he looked deep in thought.

At that moment, I closed the distance between us. And kissed him. Yes, that's right. I admitted to my feelings and kissed him. As the winds swirled around us with the destruction of the Closed space, I was glad to have figured out my role in the SOS brigade at last.

I rolled off my bed to hit my head on the carpeted floor, but the carpet wasn't much of a cushion for such a hard fall. I opened my eyes in a daze and the pain slowly registered in my brain.

"Ow…" I said sleepily. What was with that dream? Was it actually a dream?

* * *

The next morning, I trekked my way up to the school campus slowly and with sleep still in my eyes. All the while, I wondered if this world was the old world or if it was the new world made by Sora. Of course, I don't think I'd have any way of actually confirming that.

When I walked into the classroom, I noticed that Sora was wearing his old outfit from months prior. The dark navy blue uniform indeed looked better on him. I strolled over to my desk with a smile on my face and sat down.

"Yo, Sora. How are you this morning?" I greeted lightly.

"Terrible. I had a nightmare last night that I end up not getting any sleep." He didn't look at me this entire time, but I'm used to it. I like the old Sora.

"Oh?" I replied. "Wanted to skip school, I'll bet?"

"Yes," he muttered. I grinned at that.

"Hey, Sora."

"What?"

"You look nice."

* * *

During lunch, Riku pulled me from the classroom to the clubroom. Sora, who I had been planning on eating lunch with, was fine with that, saying that he had to make some arrangements for later.

"You and Sora were gone from this dimension for one and a half hour," said Naminé as we entered the room.

"Good to know…" I said lamely. "How many of you guys are there?"

"Many," she replied with a soft smile on her face. "I won the bet."

"How much did you win?" I decided to ask, curious about what kind of stuff she had bet with.

The data-organic interface pulled out a 2500 Munny gift card for the ice cream shop that I had met her in the first time when she confessed to me about her origins.

I whistled appreciatively. "Nice."

"I must thank you for saving us," the silver-haired teen said as we sat around the clubroom table eating our lunch. "I'm not out of a job just yet."

"Yeah yeah," I replied nonchalantly.

At that moment, Kairi barged into the room looking flustered.

"Roxas!" she exclaimed cheerfully. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"It was nothing," I replied with a smile on my face as well. Kairi sat down in the seat next to me and pulled out her own lunch.

"Of course," said Riku mysteriously, "we can't discount the fact that this world might have been remade by Sora last night. In any case, I'm honored to be able to meet you all again."

"Save the flattery for Sora," I joked. "I'm sure he needs it more than I do."

Riku laughed at that. "That is very true."

The rest of the hour went by normally.

* * *

After classes were over, I finally made the effort to submit the charter for the SOS Brigade. Of course, knowing that the school council would have rejected the name "The Save-the-world-by-Overloading-it-with-fun: Sora Kazano's Brigade" outright, I arbitrarily changed the name to "The Support-the-student-body-by-Overworking-to-make-the-world-a-better-place: Student service Brigade"—SOS Brigade for short. Of course, I also changed the club purpose to serve the club name better and more acceptable than just "search the world for mysteries and solve mysteries" yada yada yada.

Satisfied with my work, I submitted it into the school council office and awaited their decision.

I then walked over to the clubroom and saw Kairi wearing a sailor school uniform with very familiar colorations. Complimenting the uniform was a pair of arm-length white gloves and a pair of knee-length white boots. It looked rather familiar indeed.

"What are you supposed to be?" I inquired.

"She's going to be the star in our movie!" announced Sora with a wide grin.

If you ask me if I dislike the insanity of this club, I would've answered: "Nope. Not at all."

Life is simply too boring without any insanity in it.

And so, with that particular train of thought in mind, I entered the clubroom without hesitation.

* * *

_Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belong to Square Enix. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya belongs to Tanigawa Nagaru. Yada yada yada._

_A/N: While I was writing this, I debated which version of Haruhi I should follow: the anime? Or the novels? After much deliberation (including reading the translation of _The Sighs of Haruhi Suzumiya_ on baka-tsuki), I decided to go with the novels since they expanded more on the events that happened after _The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya_. Any questions, comments, flames for my fire mage on WoW, etc. are welcome as reviews.  
_


	7. Planning for the Festival

**Chapter 7 – Planning for the Festival**

* * *

Now, before I go into the details of this "movie", let me explain why we, the SOS Brigade, is making a movie in the first place. In other words, establish the context before I dive into the brand new mess that is Sora's currently untitled movie.

It is an annual tradition for Radiant Garden High to hold a cultural festival in the middle of winter to celebrate the multicultural aspect of the student body and faculty. To put it simply, seeing how the student is not actually as diverse as one might think, it was another excuse for the staff to make us students work harder. Not to mention, the entire event will take place on a Saturday.

I have never hated tradition more than I have now.

"Have you even thought up of a plot?" I asked Sora with skepticism, my earlier enthusiasm for the club had already dissipated. I hope that this movie wasn't actually going to be made.

"More or less," he replied nonchalantly before fussing with Kairi's hair. I must admit, for a boy, he sure is good with styling a girl's hair, even if the said girl's hair is probably more like a boy's than mine ever will.

"Do you know what goes into making a movie?" I asked, trying to discourage him from actually making this "said" movie. I don't need more work piled on me! Though… now that I think about it, I don't actually have much work to do for the festival huh. Class 1-B has yet to determine what we were doing as a class for the festival. Wonderful.

"Of course! My dad's a cinematographer for RGC!"

That would be Radiant Garden Cinematic, for all you readers, the largest movie making company on Gaia. Knowing that Sora's dad actually exists and deals with movies slightly comforts my ego. My name has been smeared enough by Sora's infamy to let him keep trampling it with his outrageous ideas. I can only hope that the professional editing can somehow make this high school made movie relatively presentable.

"We'd need a camera," I thought aloud.

Oh crap, I shouldn't have said that. Because the moment those words left my lips, Sora's eyes sparkled with an idea clearly forming in his head. Kairi, whose hair became half-undone when Sora turned his attention away, grew pale at the thought that she would be forced to endure another embarrassing situation in this "pilfering" of a movie camera.

"You're right," he replied. "I'll need to make some phone calls." He seemed to be muttering to himself aloud now as he slowly paced to and fro about the computer. "Electronics store, toy store…" He suddenly turned towards the rest of us and with a wide grin, exclaimed, "Dismissed!" With that, the energetic teen grabbed his bookbag and disappeared out of the door. I gaped at the boy and slumped down in my own seat.

"Well, I guess it won't hurt to make a movie," said Riku with his usual irritating smile, "It'll give him something to do."

I looked over to Kairi, who seemed rather down. "Are you okay with this?"

She perked up and gave me a wide smile, "Eh? I'm fine with it. I can't way to show off my acting skills after all!"

"Kairi," I said seriously, seeing right through her mask.

She deflated like a leaky balloon and confirmed my suspicions. "To be honest, I'm scared of this. I'll be terribly embarrassed." She moaned while hiding her reddening face in her hands.

"The movie will be well received," Naminé said softly without looking up from her latest novel of interest. "Sora knows what he's doing with his movie."

If you say so, Naminé. If you say so…

* * *

Anyways, on to the next day!

That morning's conversation with Sora yielded no clue for me as to what the movie will be about or how I should mentally prepare Kairi for the obvious lead role that Sora's put her in. After all, she _is_ the mascot of the SOS Brigade. All I heard from Sora was, "You get to find out after classes like everyone else!"

So, after classes, I made my way quickly over to the clubroom before Sora got there to protect Kairi and to sort of prepare them for Sora's announcement about his movie. However, I never counted on the fact that Sora didn't show up right after class which I had expected him to do.

"Ne, Kairi," I said as we set up for a round of Munchkins. "What's your class going to do for the festival?" Class 1-B, of course, still hasn't come up with what to do. I surmise it has a lot to do with the fact that Zexion was no longer there to actively lead our homeroom class in group activities. His replacement, an unwilling girl, seemed more at ease talking to the class through her friends than directly announcing the school events to us. Oh well, whatever.

"We're going to open a coffee shop, serving the usual coffee, hot chocolate, and chai tea. Someone actually offered to bring a real espresso machine for the day of the festival. I don't know if that's a good idea," she said sheepishly.

"Don't you have to be in class for the planning then?" I finished shuffling the "treasure" cards and placed them neatly in the center of the table.

She shook her head lightly. "I'm only going to be a waitress and not in charge of actually planning what uniform we would be wearing, so I'm fine." She smiled, placing the "dungeon" card deck near the shuffled "treasure" deck.

"Ah." I turned toward Riku, "What about your class?"

"We're putting on a play," he replied. "Well, more like a talent show, actually." He drew two cards from each pile and began rearranging them.

"I'm assuming you have a role in one of the acts?" I drew my own cards and wondered how I was going to win this game.

"Of course." He placed down a race card for Elf as Kairi drew her cards. Naminé remained in her seat enclosed in her little world with the novel.

"Naminé, what about you guys?"

"Divination," she replied simply.

"Like, actual divination?" I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Somehow I don't suspect her abilities to foretell the actual future.

"No, more vague," she paused a bit to flip a page, "like a fortune cookie."

"Ah…" I returned my attention to the game at hand. Riku had already drawn a dungeon card to reveal a level 4 monster.

For the rest of the hour, the three of us sat around that rectangular table playing the rather frustrating yet engaging game of Munchkin. All of us have managed to achieve the ninth level but none of us has yet been able to achieve that last level due to interference by each other, increasing the level of the monster to be defeated while decreasing the level of the player fighting the monster. It would seem that we were at a draw when Kairi managed to pull out a level 1 monster card from the dungeons deck. Having spent all of my cards to prevent Riku from gaining that last level, I was unable to stop Kairi from defeating the monster and thus gain the final level. Neither did Riku, whose hand was so bizarre that I wondered if he had planned for Kairi to win in the first plan.

Bastard.

The red-haired girl smiled happily as she marked down the last tally for her levels to an obvious 10 and the game was over. Might as well, for at that exact moment, the door slammed open to reveal Sora carrying a cardboard box full of who-knows-whats. He dropped the box on the table rather loudly, eliciting a yelp from Kairi and a raised eyebrow from both me and Riku. Naminé had looked up from her book to pay attention to the grinning boy.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting," he started before pulling out several sheets of printed paper. He handed one to each one of us before rummaging in the box that he had brought.

On the sheet of paper was a role each of us was to perform in the creation of the movie.

Sora Kazano – Executive producer/director/screenplay writer/editor

Kairi Fischer – Leading actress

Riku Hamilton – Leading actor

Naminé Nakahara – Supporting actress

Roxas Uchiyama – Assistant director/cinematographer/gaffer /equipment

What the hell is a "gaffer"? I guess I'll look it up in the dictionary later. Regardless, it seems that I was meant to suffer with the sheer amount of work that Sora's piling on me. Damn it.

"I'm supposed to be the entire backstage crew, aren't I," I complained.

"In essence, yes. All the menial tasks fall to you," grinned Sora. I have a feeling Sora's enjoying torturing me with all this work.

"What exactly is the movie about?" asked Kairi tenderly, seeing how there's two leads: she and Riku.

"I'm working on the screenplay right now. It'll be done…mmm," he crossed his arms as he pondered, "two days!"

Two days for a screenplay? Though, I guess if it's not a long movie, I can live with that.

"So what's in the box?" I inquired as he pulled out various elegant looking props ranging from a small replica of the UFO from the movie "The Otherworldlies" to a fairy godmother magic wand to a giant wooden skeleton key with a keychain at the end. The key-like sword reminded me strangely of Riku's own weapon when he showed me his powers that night in the Closed space.

Kairi had picked up the magic wand while Riku seemed rather surprised to see the key-like sword in Sora's possession. I made a mental note to ask him about it later.

"I think I got all the props needed for my movie," he commented before shrugging. "Eh, if I forgot anything, I can also go back and get more."

"How the hell did you get all these?"

"My dad," he replied simply. "Now, Kairi, Riku, Roxas, we need to go get ourselves a camera!" he exclaimed.

"Why are we all going?"

"Because I need the leads to come along to convince the electronics store to sponsor us," he replied as if it was common sense.

"Oh," I replied lamely. But seriously, how was I supposed to respond to that!?

So with that, the four of us made our way out of the school with our bags and bikes in tow. We eventually stopped in front of a relatively quiet electronics store in the middle of the shopping center closest to school and waited for Sora to tell us to go in.

"You stay here while I go in and negotiate," he said confidently and strode into the store without another word.

"Well, that makes things easier," I said while tousling my own hair annoyed with the boy that was currently "negotiating" for a camera. I can only think that this "negotiating" is actually blackmailing, but with what? As I thought back on the props, I suddenly reminded myself of the key-like sword prop that Sora had pulled out.

"Hey Riku, what's that key that Sora pulled out?" I asked.

"That's the Kingdom Key," he replied simply. "It's a Keyblade and the most current weapon of choice for my colleagues and me."

"A Keyblade?"

"Yes. The concept of the Keyblade first came to Sora in a video game that he himself has played many times in the past few months. I never expected that Sora actually convinced RGC to make a Keyblade for him."

"I'm assuming the reason why you have these 'Keyblades' is because Sora likes them?" I asked, gesticulating for emphasis.

"Yes," he replied with a smile.

"Somehow I feel like I'd be okay today," smiled Kairi.

"Yeah," I replied, think the same.

We waited for another thirty minutes before Sora reemerged from the store carrying a medium sized box containing a rather nice looking digital video camera. He dumping the box in my hands and grinned.

"Bring that to school tomorrow," he commanded. "Now… costumes!" he exclaimed, grabbing hold of Kairi's wrist and dragging her with him to the nearest fabric shop. Is he actually planning on making the costumes himself!?

"But… tomorrow's Saturday…" I said rather lamely. I wondered if he was going to go to class tomorrow actually.

In the end, with Sora's eloquent negotiation skills, we somehow managed to get everything for free, ranging from the video camera to the costumes to the software needed for the video editing. It was rather amusing to watch Sora at work to convince each small store owner that their businesses will be booming after sponsoring our movie. Knowing Sora and his powers, he probably could do that. Though I'm not sure how sincere he was when he convinced them.

At the end of the day, both Riku and I were carrying two bags worth of materials that Sora got and I wondered when it would all end. I just want to go home and pretend this never happened.

Sora stopped walking as he checked off on his fingers what he needed to get before turning around sharply with a wide smile on his face.

"We got everything!" he exclaimed before swiping the bag of fabric from my hands. "Remember to bring everything to school tomorrow!" He then skipped away like a hyper school girl whistling the Chocobo theme that seemed to have swept the entire city by storm.

"Do you guys need help?" Kairi looked at each of us with concern. After all, both Riku and I were lugging bags of equipment that we had "pilfered" from various stores around us.

"I'm fine," I replied, noticing that I was carrying the things I had been planning on going over tonight seeing how it was a Friday night and I didn't need to start doing my schoolwork until Sunday really.

"Hmm," said Riku as he looked at his own bags. Weighing his options, he handed a random bag to Kairi. "Don't forget it on Monday. You know how Sora is."

She nodded firmly. With that done, the three of us went our separate ways back to our home.

* * *

Over the weekend, I spent the majority of Saturday visiting my extended family to celebrate my grandparents' forty-fifth wedding anniversary. As much as I hated these family gatherings, I'm grateful to be able to be dragged away from the work that Sora had indirectly assigned me when he designated my role as assistant director/cinematographer/editor/and whachamacallit.

I leaned against the wall next to the open window of my grandparents' villa in Kalm looking out toward the open meadows that surrounded the little village. I must've been pretty obvious to have been in a daze when my younger cousin Denzel poked me in the ribs. Being ticklish in that area, I almost spilled my cup of juice onto the creamy beige carpet, which would not have been good.

"Geez Denzel," I grumbled, glaring at him when he started snickering. "Don't do that."

"You looked so out of it that I just had to do it!" the eleven-year old exclaimed.

"Thanks," I muttered.

"What were you thinking?" he asked inquisitively.

"Denzel!" came a rather high-pitched voice. The familiar voice belonged to none other than his younger sister Marlene. The two brown-haired kids were, surprisingly, best of friends. Of course, Denzel was often overprotective of Marlene, which caused Marlene to often go to Denzel first whenever she had problems rather than to her parents. She giggled as she looked at me and I raised an eyebrow at her.

"What are you laughing at?" I asked.

"I know why you look so out of it," she said with another giggle. I rolled my eyes.

"That's not nice," she said with a playful huff when she saw my face.

"Well, I'd like to know why I look so out of it as you two said and how you knew," I replied, a devious smirk making its way onto my face. "If you don't tell me, then I'll just have to tickle you."

Marlene squeaked and jumped behind Denzel to hide from me. I raised my hands and pretended that I was actually going to attack her with my tickling skills. As her closest cousin, I know exactly where she'd be the most ticklish too.

"Well, Tidus was talking about how you had found someone you like," she blurted out.

"Eh?" I raised an eyebrow, straightening out to search the room for my brother.

"Ask him yourself," she replied before dragging Denzel away from me.

I knew that at that particular moment, my face was slightly red from the kids knowing that I was in love. Yet at the same time, I wondered where my brother had found out. And since I couldn't find him in that particular moment, I never really found out how he found out.

* * *

That following Monday, I trudged up the hill carrying Sora's precious cargo with a heavy heart. After spending the entire Sunday working on homework and reading over the manual for operating the digital camera _and_ the video editing software, I was rather sad to have spent the entire day slaving away in my room. And the weather had been so nice too! Alas, my sacrifice is needed to appease Sora, who I've accepted as a world-altering force to be reckoned with. When I've accepted this fact is of no importance.

But right now, I had wished I didn't believe it. If I didn't believe it, I wouldn't have wasted Sunday in my own room reading a stupid instructions manual for the two mentioned things. Oh, they say ignorance is bliss and I wish it were true.

"Yo, Roxas," came Axel's playful voice as he caught up to me on the hill. "What'cha got there?"

"Some equipment for Sora's new hobby," I replied simply.

"Hobby eh?" he looked carefully at the bag but saw nothing of interest.

"It's a video camera," I commented. Axel can be so predictable sometimes.

"Video camera eh? Making amateur porn?" he joked. My face burned with embarrassment.

"Axel!" I exclaimed with a red face.

"Just kidding," he grinned while slapping me on the back. Is it too late for me to go back and take back what I said last week?

I decided to clam up and not respond to any further jests that Axel threw at me for the rest of the trek.

While I was at my locker, I made the decision to drop the equipment in the clubroom before I went to class, lest more people get the wrong impression that the SOS Brigade was making a pornographic movie. Of course, now that Axel knew, I wouldn't be surprised he decided to spread the rumor just to laugh at me. What a wonderful friend…

When I went to class after dropping by the empty clubroom, Sora sat silent in his seat looking out the window. I sensed an air of irritation around him and wondered if he had a bad weekend.

"How are the costumes coming along?" I asked.

"Perfect," he replied rather viciously. I wondered if he was being sarcastic, but seeing no obvious injuries on his fingers, I don't think he was.

"What's wrong with you then?" Of course, now that I think about it, that had been way too direct.

"None of your business!"

* * *

That day during homeroom, class 1-B finally figured out what we were going to do. All the girls decided that they were going to make a Japanese restaurant out of our own classroom but serve just simple foodstuffs such as onigiri, cucumber roll, and inari. Someone had suggested making salmon roll too, but no one wanted to go through the hassle of actually properly storing salmon fillets in an ice chest or deal with the fish, so we ended up not bothering.

While the rest of the class discussed about who's doing what, I turned around to see Sora staring out of the window much like he did this morning. When Mr. Leonhart said that the homeroom session was done, I was rather surprised. It seemed that both Sora and I had been excluded from being required to working on this homeroom project. Maybe because word got out that the SOS Brigade was actually going to participate in the festival with some undisclosed project.

After classes, I made my daily trek over to the clubroom with a sense of apprehension. If Sora's mood this morning was any indication, then I have all reason to be scared. It'd be like walking to my own doom.

Upon opening the door, a wave of heated air assaulted me that stunned me for a second. Heated air? In here? As far as I'm concerned, the building with the clubrooms didn't have central heating, since it was the oldest building on campus. Yet, the heat that made the room seem stuffy and nearly unbearable came from a heater that had been oscillating on its pivot. Sora seemed downright gleeful as he typed furiously on the computer

Kairi sat at the table reading a decently thick report. Or, I had thought it was a report. When I sat down, Sora practically chucked a copy of the bound papers at me and I read the title:

_The Adventures of Kairi Fischer: Episode 00  
_

Just my luck, it's the script. It's rather surprising that when I flipped through it, there were at least twenty pages of plot written. I'm just hoping that Sora won't be changing it all over the place while we're filming.

I scanned down the first page and saw the cast:

Kairi Fischer: a time-traveling student from the future

Riku Hamilton: a high school student who is actually a psychic

Naminé Nakahara: the alien enemy who attacks with a paintbrush

Extra #1: Kairi's friend from this time line

Extra #2: Kairi's friend #2 from this time line

Extra #3: Kairi's friend #3 from this time line

Extra #4: Riku's brother

Wow. He actually managed to guess all of them right… I looked up at the script writer, who didn't notice me and simply continued to type away on the computer, and wondered if it was a coincidence that he figured out who each of them were or if it was planned. Riku would've said it was planned, and I probably would've agreed with him.

Before I get scolded by Sora for not reading the script, I turned my eyes away from the aforementioned boy and began reading the piece of work known as "The Adventures of Kairi Fischer".

* * *

_Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belong to Square Enix. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya belongs to Tanigawa Nagaru. Yada yada yada._

_A/N: This is on the short side, but it's also the best place for me to end it without cutting into the next chapter, which is devoted to the movie itself. This chapter is also mainly filler before the important stuff that I wanted to get to from _The Sighs of Haruhi Suzumiya_. Hope you enjoyed it and stay tuned for the movie!_


	8. The Adventures of Kairi Fischer

**Chapter 8 – The Adventures of Kairi Fischer: Episode 00  
**

* * *

It is a beautiful wintery day in Radiant Garden. As the camera pans to show the entirety of the school campus, we see busy students milling in and out of each building throughout the day from the start of school to when the sun sets. Why are we focusing on this particular school? Well, this school is the high school of a particular man of interest: Riku Hamilton.

If we follow Riku throughout the day from his home to his classes to his after-school activities which included work, and back to his house, we would see nothing abnormal. He seemed very much like a normal high school student like you and me.

Now, let's rewind and I ask that you look closely again at the scenes.

Do you see what it is that makes Riku abnormal?

Yes, as you can see, in each scene, there is always a strange figure in the distance. And as we zoom into the last scene to take a closer look at the figure, you will see that this figure is none other than Kairi Fischer.

Kairi, now, is a superhero from the future. Granted with the power of time traveling to return to the past to protect Riku, who, according to the script, is a very important figure that will change the course of time for the future from which Kairi comes from. Given that it was a mouthful to say the previous statement, I'll not add more commentary.

In any case, to put it simply, Kairi has been charged with the task to protect Riku from all enemies who might be seeking his death. That or seeking to change the future by convincing him to join them; something to that effect.

In order to protect him, this fighter from the future is now attending the high school that Riku goes to as a second year while Riku remains blissfully unaware of his own importance in the future as a first year. Undoubtedly Kairi would have preferred to enter the high school posing as a first year and be placed in the same class as her charge. But, as fate would have it, her mission came a year too late and she was placed in a second year class away from the fifteen year old teen. As a result, she has to run from her classroom to clandestinely perform surveillance on the unsuspecting boy.

After school, Kairi would follow, though stalk might be a better term, Riku back home and upon his return to home safely, she would rush off to the marketplace to work at a tea house. It would appear that she has a real penchant for tea. It was a good place for her to work, not to mention all waitresses wore rather dainty looking outfits. Are cosplay restaurants the rage now?

But that's beside the point.

"Welcome to The Tea Stop," she would greet every customer. "Today's special is…" Earl Grey, Sencha, Genmaicha, Chamomile, Chrysanthemum, etc. etc. There are a lot of tea leaves out there to be certain. With her hard work and her cute appearance, she has managed to help the Tea Stop flourish and turned it into a popular place for high school students to hang out. Whether the students come in for tea or to get a glimpse of the popular girl wearing dainty outfits is not of importance.

What is of importance is that after her shift at the Tea Stop, she would immediately rush off to the Electronics store and serve as a salesperson. And, on the weekends, she would go through the entire marketplace help publicize each store. She is a really busy girl and has become the face of the marketplace. Good work, Kairi.

At the end of a hectic day, we follow the tired girl back to her apartment just above the stationery shop, where the kind old lady who owns the store greeted her.

"Welcome back, Kairi."

"I'm back," the time traveler greeted back.

"Looks like a busy day for you, eh?"

Kairi nodded and smiled. "It was a good day. We managed to sell out the stock of Chrysanthemum tea leaves today at the Tea Stop and the latest shipment of the Wii came in today."

"Must have been hard work for you," the old lady said with surprise.

"It was okay," she replied with a nervous laugh. "Oh, thank you once again for letting me stay here."

"It's no problem," the old lady replied. "Go get some rest. I'll bring up some food for you tonight."

"Thank you so much!" Kairi bowed deeply in gratitude. With the energy of a sleeping kitten, she trudged up the steps to her apartment. And, after changing, she went to sleep. Whether she woke up later to do her homework or to eat is of no consequence.

Of course, a superhero from the future would have no purpose to be in the past if there wasn't some person, or in this case alien, with malicious intent present in this world.

And so, we turn our story toward Naminé Nakahara, who is standing on a windswept cliff overlooking the Dark Depths. Dressed in a black pointy hat and a black cloak, she seems more like a witch-wannabe than an evil alien magician. But, she is indeed an evil alien magician.

"Riku Hamilton must not be allowed to survive," came Sora's voice as the scene remained on Naminé's impassive face. "Make him join us. Failure is not an option." As you can see, Sora is acting as the evil mastermind behind Naminé's actions in this movie-slash-documentary.

"Understood," said the aforementioned girl. She turned around and we can see her staring at Radiant Garden High under the setting sun.

As if the story's progressed into a love triangle of sorts, the next day we also see Naminé at school, having been placed in a different class as Riku but in the same year. That meant that she would be able to keep track of her target much easily than her well-intentioned counterpart.

At the end of the day, both Naminé and Kairi have noticed each other's presence and of course, a showdown must occur. So, we change gears and find the two girls on top of the school roof, each in their respective battle costumes.

While Kairi had gotten into a battle stance with a key-like weapon that had suddenly appeared on screen, Naminé continued to stand there passively, though you could probably see a smile on her face.

"I won't let you take Riku from this world!" our protagonist exclaimed. "I will protect him with all my life."

While Naminé said nothing initially, a rather creepy smile appeared on her face. I never knew Naminé could make such a creepy smile. I think it rivals that of Riku's. But that's beside the point.

"I don't think you will be able to protect him," she said quietly, almost too quietly for the camera to pick it up.

"We'll see about that!" With that, the two began to engage in a well-choreographed dance of parries dodges, misses, and whatnots. Naminé had pulled out a giant paintbrush as her choice of weapon and with a quick stroke across the empty air in front of her, the black paint spilling everywhere on the roof, she managed to bind Kairi up with a thick rope. I will add as a side note that cleaning up the black paint was not part of my job description.

Though a smirk was initially detected on Namin'e's otherwise impassive face, the smirk quickly disappeared. For as we turn the camera back to where Kairi once was, the girl had mysteriously disappeared with a cloud of smoke as the only cover that she had for her miraculous escape. Where did the girl go?

It would appear that one of her abilities was to escape like Houdini from dire situations. And now, we find her walking down an empty stretch of road in the residential area looking rather forlorn. After all, she had just been defeated and must be troubled by these unforeseen events. She returned to her apartment and sat in front of her desk facing the window. She appeared to be thinking in a daze.

At this same moment, we find Riku walking down another stretch of road with the usual carefree face of a high school student on his face. Although his house wasn't that far away, he had suddenly stopped with a look of alarm now on his handsome face. I will note here that I'm only following the script.

The reason for his alarm was Naminé Nakahara, who had stepped out from another street to intercept him. A cute looking hamster sat rather precariously atop of her witchy hat. That would be her familiar called Mickey. We will delve further into his role of this movie-slash-documentary later on.

"Who are you?" asked Riku suspiciously, getting into a battle stance in case this rather strangely dressed person is of evil intent. Oh, how right you would be.

"I am Naminé Nakahara," the girl said with a cold tone. "Otherwise, known as an evil alien magician." Just in case you forgot, that is what she is.

"Is that right…"

"It is."

"What do you want with me?"

"You have a special power hidden within you. I intend to take that power from you."

"What if I say that I won't let you?"

"I'll have to forcibly take it from you then." Without preamble, Naminé had pulled out her giant paintbrush and pointed the brush at the surprised boy. She was about to make a downward stroke, which would extract this said power from the said boy, when Kairi came out of nowhere and disarmed the evil alien magician.

"I won't let you do that!" she exclaimed.

"Fine," the alien replied. "I shall take my leave for now. But next time, you won't be so lucky. Take this opportunity to prepare your grave. I won't hesitate to destroy you when we meet again." With that, Naminé disappeared in a beam of light that blinded everyone, including the cameraman.

When the light receded, we find Riku and Kairi standing in awe of what had just happened.

"Who are you?" he finally asked the girl next to him.

"I'm just a passerby," she replied with a nervous laugh. "Anyways, good-bye!" Without giving Riku a chance to further question her, our heroine ran off down the way Riku had come from and disappeared around a corner.

"Who is she?" wondered Riku with a look of curiosity on his face. You will find out later on, Riku, don't worry.

The next day, as if an unspoken truce had occurred, no further confrontation at school was seen. However, after school, we find another battle looming with our heroine and her archrival-slash-nemesis standing next to a rapidly moving river.

"Evil alien Naminé, you must leave Earth at once. I won't let you harm Riku!" announced the girl with a series of gestures that we can only assume is her trademark pose.

"You should be the one to vanish from this time. You do not belong here," said the witch-looking girl, who had pulled out her paintbrush in preparation for a battle. "He is valuable to us and will eventually fall into our hands. We will invade Earth to accomplish that if we must."

"I won't let you do that! Even if it costs me my life!" A valiant effort to say the least, Kairi.

"Well then, we shall take your life." With another beam of light that blinded everyone, Kairi suddenly found herself surrounded by her classmates from school: Hayner, Axel, and Demyx. All of them are under the mind control of Naminé, scary isn't it?

Unwilling to harm her classmates, our hapless heroine couldn't do a thing and was dumped into the nearby river by the three teens. As we follow the girl down the cold river, her unconscious self eventually washed up on an artificial sandy beach where Riku had coincidentally been taking a stroll. Surprised by the figure, he rushed over to the girl and checked her vitals.

"It's that girl," he said the cheesy line and then proceeded to carry the unconscious, innocent girl back to his house, which was surprisingly nearby.

At Riku's house, we found that someone had helped the unconscious girl out of her wet uniform and into a nightgown. She now rests rather comfortably on Riku's bed with the said boy looking over her with indecision. If you're going to kiss her, do it already!

Of course, when he was about to kiss her, Naminé suddenly appeared in the room.

"Stop," she said. Riku blinked at her with confusion.

"What are you doing here," he decided to ask suspiciously.

"You should not choose her. Instead, you should choose me. Your power will be validated after becoming one with my own power." Wait a minute, this is starting to sound like a love triangle!

"What do you mean by that?" Riku's starting to sound like me!

"Currently, you have two choices. You can join me and we can advance the universe to a higher level. Or you can join her and pluck out the infinite possibilities the future holds for this world."

Riku seemed deeply troubled by what she said. I would be too, to know that I'm the key to the universe or the future of the entire world.

"If I get what you're saying, I'm the key, right? But the key is unable to do anything but simply bring about change depending on which door I choose to open." Riku seemed to slip back into his pensive state. "I understand, Naminé. But I don't have the right to decide right now. It's too early to make a decision. If you had explained the entire situation and how the worlds will change with my decision, then perhaps I could've made the choice."

"The time for the truth will come in the near future and not now. My superiors have agreed that there isn't enough information to allow you to complete your destiny. Very well, we shall leave this matter unresolved for now." With that, she disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

The next day, we see Riku and Kairi happily conversing as they made their way to school. Doubtlessly, Kairi had commented on the fact that she was a student at his high school as well. As long as the truce between Kairi and Naminé remained, the day passed by without incident. However, strangely enough, during lunch, Naminé appeared in the classroom where Riku and Kairi were having lunch like a pair of newlyweds. In her hands were two lunchboxes, one of them looking suspiciously like mine. It would appear that this love triangle is developing and Naminé was going to seduce Riku to some effect. I just pray that it won't end with a cheesy resolution.

After school, Riku and Kairi can be seen walking back to Riku's house, both seemed rather content. Whatever happened to the rivalry-slash-enmity between Kairi and Naminé? Has Naminé decided to leave the two alone knowing that she will win in the end? If so, that's awfully nice of her to do so. To let them both spend the last days of their lives together before the end. So noble of her.

Of course, it could also be an awfully irresponsible thing for her to do so. In her belief that she would triumph over Kairi, she may be giving her nemesis too much time to become well prepared for the last battle and thus ensure her own downfall rather than that of Kairi's. Nevertheless, it is the calm before the storm. Let us rejoice over these last few happy days before the final battle despite the result of the battle.

As the pair neared Riku's house, we find a new character introduced in this rather brief movie-slash-documentary.

"Yo, Riku!" shouted Tidus, Riku's older brother in this piece of film. The reason why we haven't seen him before is because he is a college student and thus doesn't live at home.

"Hey, Tidus!" returned Riku as he embraced his older brother. I must bring up the note that Tidus is actually my real life brother. "Home for the weekend?"

"You betcha," replied the blond-haired man with a grin. I'm rather jealous of his easygoing nature even on screen. I guess that's what they mean when someone's a natural actor. He turned to look at Kairi. "Who is this? Your girlfriend?" he winked at the girl, who blushed. Goddamn tease.

"She's just an acquaintance from school," supplied Riku evasively.

"Oh really," grinned Tidus as he slyly moved over to the pretty looking girl. "Well then," he wrapped his arms around the petite girl and began maneuvering towards the Hamilton residence, "you won't mind if I ask this girl out right?"

Riku, acting very much the indignant little brother, was outraged by Tidus's suggestion and proceeded to smack Tidus over the head.

"Ow," said Tidus, rubbing the back of his head tenderly.

"That's what you get for trying to scare Kairi," replied Riku with a huff.

The blond-haired man grinned. "Well then, to make up for it, how about let's go out for dinner together? My treat."

"Where?" asked Riku suspiciously.

"The Seventh Heaven, of course," he replied. Riku raised an eyebrow before looking over at Kairi, who seemed oblivious to the fact that the Seventh Heaven is _the_ place to go for dinner amongst the teenagers.

"Um, sure," she replied.

So, the trio made their way to the hottest restaurant in town and had dinner there. Thankfully, Tidus also paid for the dinner of the crew, namely me, Sora, and Naminé. Due to our lack of prior request to film the restaurant, we'll let you guess as to what happened during dinner.

After dinner, Tidus met up with several of his friends who made a cameo on-screen before leaving our two stars alone in front of the restaurant.

"It was a fun evening," said Kairi with a serene smile on her face. I would have to agree. It was the best night of my life, even if it had been planned in the movie since Sora scripted it. I think even Sora had enjoyed his time that night.

"Yes, it was," replied Riku with a nod. The two shared an awkward moment, each uncertain what to say to each other now that the night was over. Riku looked up into the night sky and Kairi followed his gaze upward. At that exact moment, probably due to Sora's innate abilities, a shooting star soared across the sky with a trail of white. Kairi clearly gasped at the scene.

"Would you like to do that again sometimes?" the boy finally asked without tripping over his own words.

The red-haired girl with a dazzling smile that would blind even the blindest man replied, "Of course."

And so, the night ended happily for our two heroes. Whether they kissed that night wasn't captured on the camera mainly because Sora had forgotten to recharge the battery for the camera before the scripted kiss and so the camera died. Of course, you know that he blamed it on me and demanded that I bring him to the Seventh Heaven on the Sunday after the premiere showing of this movie—namely the Sunday after the Culture Festival. It strangely sounded like Sora had just asked me out, except I'm the one who's paying for dinner and all. More time to spend alone with Sora… I wonder if it's a good thing or bad.

No use dwelling on it too much. Back to the plot!

That weekend, Kairi can be found throughout the marketplace working at various stores. She has become synonymous with the marketplace it would appear. We now find her in the Tea Stop where we first found her working. Once again, with a smile of content and of eagerness to please, Kairi bounced about the store serving tea, snacks, and the occasional coffee, juice, and other various drinks. As our camera shifted over to the entrance of the store, we find Hayner standing in the entryway looking to and fro, most likely for our heroine.

"Kairi!" he shouted as he maneuvered his way through the throngs of people around him toward the serving girl. Without another word, he handed her a letter before proceeding to run out of the store with a face red from obvious embarrassment. Is it me? Or do I foresee a double love triangle going on here?

The hardworking waitress, having obtained permission to go on break, slipped out of the store to the backroom before opening up the letter to find Hayner's confession of love for her. At this moment, I would like to explain Kairi's predicament in this.

First of all, she has been charged with the protection of Riku; this task she has performed admirably.

However, the most important rule for a time traveler such as her is to not get romantically involved with any one that is not from her own time line. Her own budding relationship with Riku is pushing the line and if she gets involved with Hayner, the course of the future would be altered for sure. As such, she is in quite a quandary.

But, we should forget about the complex relationship that these four teenagers would have and focus more on the story.

Another battle occurred during the weekend. And as clichéd as it is, this battle serve as an important break from all the drama that has been going on.

"I won't let you harm Riku!" and "You can't stop me" are the usual lines that the two girls spewed out. I'm sure you've heard it enough to have them memorized by now. So, instead of them speaking the words, I, the narrator, shall dub the lines with my own falsetto voice.

Over my dead body.

Still, the introduction of cards into the entire mix is a rather unexpected turn of events. It would seem that both had spent their energies in the battles before this and so are resorting to a game of Go Fish to determine the winner of this contest. Unfortunately, since Tidus and Hayner had also joined in the game, it wasn't much of a one-on-one battle. Indeed, when Hayner won the game, the two girls are forced to call it a tie once again. Will their conflict never cease!?

Zipping right along… We shall skip several battle scenes which never resolve the conflict between the two girls, including an omelet making contest with both omelets looking delectably tasty. I truly envy Riku right then, able to eat delicious food while I'm stuck with camera duty. Now, we find ourselves in the same place where Naminé was first seen talking to a bodiless voice that sounded oddly like Sora's. The two fighters took their stance on the opposite ends of the cliff shelf and one mistake would result in the person's plunge to death. Let us hope enough safety measurements have been taken to prevent such injuries and deaths.

"We don't have much time left, let us conclude this meaningless battling between the two of us and let the best girl win," said Naminé as the camera zoomed in on the right side of her face.

"I must agree. Let us have our final battle and see who wins!" replied Kairi as the camera also zoomed in on the right side of her face. "I know that Riku will choose me for sure. I have faith in him!"

"Hmph, faith. I have no intention to respect his personal wishes. We will have his powers."

"I won't let you!" the red-haired girl exclaimed. Kairi had summoned her Keyblade and the two engaged in yet another well-choreographed dance. Yet, they have also employed magic powers with explosions from fireworks and computer added laser beams into the battle. After a long and arduous fight, Kairi found herself cornered at the edge of the cliff. She took a glance down into the Dark Depths and gulped.

"At last, let us end this." The evil alien magician then waved her paintbrush diagonally across the air in front of her which caused Kairi to fall onto the ground as if she were punched in her stomach. At that instant, our hero entered the scene and rushed over to our fallen heroine's side.

"Are you okay?" he asked with concern, helping her up. Kairi blushed and nodded even though the script had said that she should say "Yes, I'm fine. Don't worry."

"That's enough," he said, turning toward Naminé with a frown on his face. "You shall no longer hurt Kairi."

"I refuse to obey," she replied and raised her paintbrush up for her final act. At that same moment, Riku brought his hands up in a hand gesture and a ball of lightning and wind made up of awesome computer editing and powerful fans appeared around him. The logic-defying power that lay latent within Riku has finally awakened. Without preamble, our hero released his powers in one stroke and Naminé was blasted out of the scene and perhaps into outer space if Sora would have his way.

We now find our two heroes walking through a park rather leisurely, relishing in the afterglow of their victory. Thank you, Riku. Thank you, Kairi. It is because of you two that the world is safe. Go ahead and kiss, you deserved it.

Wait a minute, what ever happened between Kairi and Hayner? Did she turn him down and say that she's with Riku? Or what? I guess we will never know.

"The preceding story is a work of fiction. All events and characters portrayed are not based on any real events or real people. Any parallels are simply coincidental. This has been a production of the SOS Brigade. We would like to thank our sponsors…"

* * *

At the conclusion of the movie, as the credits continued to roll, I was rather impressed. For a high school student made movie, it was well done. Better than I had originally expected, to say the least. Of course, having Sora's dad as a movie editor probably covered up all the imperfections this movie had while we were filming. And believe me, there were a lot of imperfections.

Nevertheless, I must applaud the impromptu acting that Hayner, Axel, Demyx, and my brother all did. I had never expected Sora to so readily accept their offers to fill in the roles of the extras that were undoubtedly originally meant for me. I mean, he even had the disguises ready for me before the aforementioned people unexpectedly showed up at the scene of filming and thus filled the roles. For that, I am grateful.

The lights came back on and Sora turned around with a wide grin on his face.

"That was really well done!" he exclaimed. I wasn't going to argue, though I thought it could've been better. "When we put our minds to it, there's nothing the SOS Brigade can't do!"

Of course, most of the work was done by me and your dad, you doofus. Granted, I'm very grateful that I didn't have to deal with the movie editing, even if it did mean that I had wasted an entire weekend slaving over something that I didn't have to slave over in the first place. Oh well, if it's for the sake of saving the world, then I'll not complain. Though I would rather prefer to have some magical powers and some supernatural beings to fight against to save the world rather than… you get the point.

"I'm willing to bet that this movie will win the prize at the festival and when we do, you all get a bonus!"

Bonus? Were we even _paid_ here in the first place? Whatever. Keep ranting on, oh fearless god-slash-autoevolution generator-slash-time manipulator.

As I looked towards the left and right of me, Kairi seemed rather embarrassed by the entire ordeal; Riku seemed, well, as he always looked—laid back and rather apathetic in my opinion; and Naminé had returned to her sketch book now that the lights came back on. She's no longer reading any books because she's managed to finish reading all of the books that were on the shelves in the Literature club. As such, she's turned to indulging herself with sketches using her trusty crayons and colored pencils. She's never shown the sketches to me, but I surmise they're pretty decent based on what I've seen at her apartment.

Sora continued to rant on and on about the movie with his expectations for what should be done at the release of the movie this Saturday during the festival. Somewhere along the line, a sequel to the movie was announced and I could only sigh at the fact. Hooray, more work.

"Right, Roxas?" he suddenly asked me.

I looked up at the excited boy and nodded silently, simply going along with whatever it was he was ranting about. I think he was talking about making a sequel to the movie and naming it "The Revenge of Naminé Nakahara: Episode 00". Uh, right, what's his obsession with Episode 00? Shouldn't it be Episode 01 now that we've already established the premise!?

I pray that this movie won't make the SOS Brigade into the Drama club. We have enough drama as it is without resorting to acting, 'kay thanks.

* * *

_Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belong to Square Enix. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya belongs to Tanigawa Nagaru. Yada yada yada._

_A/N: I originally had hit a writer's block regarding how I was going to write the entire movie. Should I keep the gist of the movie with Kyon commenting all the inconsistencies with the movie they made? Or should I make it more like a commentary where the narrator comments on the actions and situations. Whether everything that Roxas said is on the script or is part of Roxas's thoughts as they previewed the movie is up to you. I won't distinguish his thoughts from the commentary recorded. And for the record, the movie that Sora and co. made is a far cry from the product that Haruhi and co. made… at least in my mind._


	9. The Cultural Festival

**Chapter 9 – The Culture Festival**

* * *

As I've said before, the Radiant Garden High Culture Festival takes place on a Saturday and everyone in Radiant Garden has been invited. To accommodate and attract potentially thousands of people—a tenth of that being all the students, the faculty has gone even as far as hiring a catering company to provide food and drinks to the visitors.

It was a good thing too; I don't think class 1-B had planned to sell sushi to thousands of people. I think we had originally planned for maybe five hundred customers at most, since there are also plenty of other classes that decided to redecorate their own classrooms into restaurants. Besides class 1-B and 2-E—2-E being Kairi's class, 2-A, 3-F, and 4-B all decided to make restaurant themed "booths". So between those five classes and the catering company, everyone at the festival got to eat.

I guess the one good thing about being a student at the high school on this day is the free food. All the students were given vouchers for the catered food while all the rest of the visitors/non-scholastic affiliated personnel had to pay for food. Nice marketing and fundraising strategy to be sure.

In any case, when I stepped onto the school campus, I was given a brochure detailing the day's events and where everything was. The classroom themselves had been transformed into booths for their individual activities such as sushi restaurant, coffee spot, amateur theater, psychic hotline, etc. etc. The large theater where the students were sent to every couple of weeks to listen to guest speakers or school-wide meetings was being used to showcase various acts and projects unrelated to classes and clubs; the most important one being the popular student singing group the Gullwings.

Now I haven't actually listened to the group of girls, but from the rumors, they were pretty good and were slated for a record deal with Atlantica Records. But, that's just rumors.

The student club themselves have also opened up their individual rooms to showcase their own works in the comforts of their own room. The Computer Science Club was showcasing their latest programs and games in their own room while the SOS Brigade, under the direction of Sora, managed to get our movie set up to loop in our own clubroom.

By the way, the SOS Brigade has been accepted as a legitimate student club. How that happened I don't know. I guess the application was good as gold.

Or maybe Naminé pulled some strings and made it be accepted by the student council. Regardless of it all, they seemed to have lumped together the Literature club with the SOS Brigade without any second thoughts. They might as well, seeing how we do "share" the clubroom.

I decided to make my way over to my classroom and was mildly surprised by the décor of our previously boring classroom. Origami cranes of various sizes and colors hung from the ceiling held by strings and tape; desks were moved around to make tables and seating; a cashier's box sat on a large table that was set up near the front of the room with a cutting board, a ceramic knife, and stuff for making sushi taking up the rest of the space on the table. What's most surprising is the fact that all the servers were wearing yukatas, even the guys.

"Yo, Roxas," greeted Axel as he waved at me. "We should get out of here before they throw us out." I raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're not working?" I asked him.

"I helped out with the set up yesterday, that's why I stayed behind. Remember?"

"Oh, right," I replied. Is it a bad thing for me to admit now that I did forget that Axel and Demyx had stayed at school after classes instead of heading straight home yesterday? "Where's Demyx anyways?"

"I think he went to the auditorium for the Gullwings concert," he replied.

"Is that right now?" I asked with surprise, looking at my watch. It was already eleven o'clock and the concert was slated to start at eleven-thirty.

"Wanna go?" he asked with a grin as he pulled out his cell phone. "I can call Demyx right now and see if he saved us seats."

"I can call him myself," I replied as I dialed Demyx's number.

"Hey, Roxas," Demyx's voice came through once he picked up. Noises from the auditorium filtered through the connection, signaling the imminent concert.

"You at the concert?" I asked without preamble, starting my way over to the theater.

"Yup. Axel with you?"

"We're heading over right now, think you can grab us seats too?"

"I can try. Excuse me," Demyx sounded like he was making his way across the aisles or something. "Ah, yeah. I found three seats. It'll be difficult to get to them though."

I shrugged, even though I knew Demyx couldn't see me. "Eh, it'll work. Where is it?" Both Axel and I had made our way out of the classroom building and were crossing the courtyard over to the busy auditorium where students were milling into the foyer of the building.

"It's off to the left hand side, close to the front and right in the middle. I'll be standing and waving madly when I see you."

I stifled my laughter. "Alright, fine. See you in a bit then."

"Yeah, see ya." I snapped my cell phone shut and pocketed it before taking the stairs two steps at a time with Axel close behind me.

"Eager to get to the concert?" he teased me. I scoffed.

"I just don't want Demyx to get awkward looking for us when other people are asking for the unoccupied seats," I retorted. To be honest, I _was_ looking forward to the concert, but I'm not about to admit that to Axel either. Call me childish, but I'm sure Axel saw right through that retort, since he did snort in response.

"Yeah, sure," he replied. We made our way into the crowded foyer and then into the crowded and dimmed auditorium. The only source of light came from the spotlights that casted white light on the stage.

"Where is he?" Axel shouted at me over the din. God, can't high school students be quiet!? I forgot, I'm one of them.

I looked about the left hand side of the seats and scanned the faces for Demyx. I spotted him just as Axel did. It hadn't been too hard when Demyx happened to be the only one standing in his area and he was waving.

We made our way over and with a couple of "excuse me's" and "sorry's", we managed to make our way over to the saved spots.

"Phew," said Axel as he slumped down in his seat. He took a glance at our view and slapped Demyx on the back. "Nice work, kid," he said.

"Che, you're a kid yourself," Demyx retorted. Is it just me? Or has Demyx gotten more wisecrack like Axel? I should really spend more time with them.

"Roxas?" came a familiar voice to my left. I turned around to see the president of the Computer Science Club seated next to me.

"Hey Pence," I greeted with a smile on my face. It's been a while since I've met up with the other boy, but can you blame us? With him as the president and me as the errand boy for our respective clubs, there really wasn't any time for us to hang out. Not to mention there really wasn't any need for us to meet each other now that I think about it. A sudden thought dawned on me. "Don't you need to be in your club room for your presentations?"

"Nah. I got the other guys to work on it for me right now," he replied. "Besides, Olette practically dragged me out of there for this concert." The named girl leaned forward to show her face to Roxas. If Roxas haven't seen Kairi and Naminé on a daily basis, he would've thought that Olette was really really pretty. But since he's seen Kairi and Naminé—who have been named one of the cutest girls on campus by Axel—Olette seemed normal. Though I must admit, she's probably on par with Kairi and Naminé. Anyways, I'm digressing.

"Hello," she greeted with a wave.

"Roxas, meet my girlfriend Olette. Olette, this is the infamous lackey of Sora Kazano, Roxas," introduced Pence. I glared at Pence for teasing me, but seeing how it was dim and hard to see, I doubt Pence noticed my detesting glare at him.

"Nice to meet you," she said, holding her hand out for a handshake. I gladly took the hand in a gesture of friendship and shook it.

"Nice to meet you too," I replied lamely before realizing that she didn't ask me about Sora. Oh my god, someone sees me as an actual individual!?

"Aren't you going to ask me about what it's like to deal with Sora?" I decided to ask. Granted, no one else that I've met before has asked me about Sora. _But_, seeing how Sora's name is a lot more well-known than my own, I couldn't help but be curious if other people would want to confirm all the rumors about the said boy.

"Mmm, not really. I'm not into the gossips," she replied with a smile.

"Psh," scoffed Pence. "You don't ask only because you pester Kairi too much."

Oh, so that's why. Makes sense that she's in class with Kairi. Both she and Pence are upperclassmen after all.

Olette slapped Pence on his shoulder playfully before sticking her tongue out at him.

"Oh yeah, very mature," he teased.

"You know it," she replied. I decided to avert my eyes lest I intrude on their lovey-dovey time. It was just in time for the band to take the stage. Of course, I never expected the last members to walk on stage to be none other than Sora Kazano and my brother.

"Oy, Roxas," said Axel as he poked me. "Isn't that Kazano and your brother?"

I was speechless. I stared as Sora took a seat at the drums while the vocalist stood under the limelight in front of a microphone. She looked a lot older than a high school senior, but I guess it should be noted that one should never judge a person by their appearance. So cliché.

Off to her right was a blond-haired girl with her hair bound up with a bandanna and several small braids hanging down over her forehead. The hairstyle was very odd, but rather fitting. She was holding an electric guitar in her hand.

On the other side was well, my brother. Granted, I've always known that he plays the electric bass, but to find out only now that he was playing for the Gullwings? That was a shocker. What the hell.

In any case, the lead singer nodded her head at Sora in tempo of the first song and Sora began the intro percussive segment of the song. Again, I was shocked. He played the drums like he's been playing it his entire life or something. As the bass and the guitar joined in the song, I couldn't help but wonder just how in the world I have never noticed that Sora's part of the band.

The singer then joined in with her beautiful and lurid voice. It was actually really good. Well deserving a record deal as the rumors have said. At the middle of the first song, "Lost My Music", the audience had stood up and acted much like we were at an actual rock concert. Some of them were even waving glow sticks. Glow sticks? Where the hell did you get those things here?

The band got cheers and whistles for their performance of the first song and the band basked in the limelight. Even Sora seemed happy with his face flushed from the exertion. Once the applause died down, the singer introduced the band.

"Thank you for all coming to this concert. We are the Gullwings as you all know, but let me introduce ourselves. I'm Yuna Bikanel. On the guitar is Rikku Home." At the introduction, Rikku played a mean riff that impressed everyone. She sounds like a pro!

"Unfortunately our usual bass player, Chappu Besaid, had an acute appendicitis, so he is in the hospital right now. So in his stead is Tidus Uchiyama who is a first year at Twilight Town University." She gestured to Tidus who plucked a short basic melody on the bass guitar before waving at the crowd.

"Lastly, I'd like to introduce Sora Kazano." She pointed at the mentioned drummer, who simply waved in acknowledgement to the audience. "Sora is helping our band out also since Paine Crimson had broken her wrist at the school's ice hockey game last night. She is in attendance however," she pointed at a girl with spiky black hair who stood up to wave to the crowd.

"The song that we just performed for you is called 'Lost My Music' and we will be selling CDs for our first single after the concert in front of the theater. Each CD is worth 100 Munny and we hope to bring you more of those in the near future. Now our next song, '1000 Words', is our very first corroboration with the school orchestra and the first public debut. We hope you enjoy it."

With that said, Rikku and Tidus both went offstage while stagehands brought a keyboard onstage. Two violinists, a violist, and a cellist also took the stage. Both Rikku and Tidus then came back on stage but this time Rikku was carrying an acoustic guitar while Tidus took his place at the keyboard.

Compared to "Lost My Music", "1000 Words" was a ballad that made the audience sway on its feet. The sensual voice of Yuna Bikanel coupled with the smooth strings and punctuated by the percussive qualities of the drums, keyboard, and guitar proved to me that this group indeed is great. Well deserving of the record deal they were going to get.

"You know, Sora and Tidus aren't bad," commented Axel. Demyx looked like he was in heaven as he swayed to the music and clapped along to the drum beats.

I only nodded silently, unable to find the words to describe the scene.

I think I forgot to mention that Demyx is a music freak. When he's not busy with the billion things that his parents have made him do—you know, all the private lessons that his parents make him take—he's always fooling around with his sitar and listening to music. Of course, even though I've suggested that he join a band or something to showcase his talent, he always stared at me like I had sprouted another head.

"Music is meant for listening and enjoying, not to show off," he said to me rather seriously once.

Yes, I have weird friends. Oh wait, I'm a known associate of Sora Kazano. That explains it all. Whatever, I'm rambling now.

Anyways, at the conclusion of the concert, my mind was blown. I'm in love with the music of the Gullwings.

Oh my god.

Demyx, of course, had gone straight to the table that they had set up in front of the auditorium doors and bought a CD, squealing like a fangirl. It wasn't a pretty sight.

After calming Demyx down from his zeal for his new CD, the three of us made our way to the various "restaurant" booths of the classrooms. Of course, we made our first stop at class 1-B. Even though there was a line, it wasn't long before it was our turn.

We sat down at a "table" and ordered two cucumber rolls and three rice balls for 150 Munny. Slightly overpriced in my opinion, but it's for a good cause.

I think.

Soon enough, our food came and we devoured them with vigor, since it was almost 1 PM by the time we sat down. Having been up since 8 in the morning, I was more than happy to eat the sushi and believe it to be delectable. Though thinking back on it, I think someone added too much vinegar to the sushi rice.

We then made our way over to class 2-A and bought ourselves each a box of fried rice that they had procured from the nearest Chinese food restaurant. I would've preferred to be able to sit down in their classroom to eat my rice, but it would appear that they had cordoned it off so they can make the other stuff that they had advertised they were making. So, we had to make due and eat from our boxes with plastic spoons as we made our way down toward class 2-E, where a long line of people stood waiting for seats.

"Welcome to the coffee shop!" greeted an enthusiastic second year girl as we paused.

"Is Kairi in?" I decided to ask, even though I wasn't in the mood for coffee just then.

"Yup," she replied. "But you'll have to wait in line if you want to see her," she grinned. Great, I have to pay admissions just to see a friend. I think I'll pass for now.

"Uh, I'll pass for now," I replied, looking over to Axel and Demyx, who were eying the staircase probably wondering what class 3-F and 4-B were selling. I recalled that neither Axel nor Demyx have a penchant for coffee. Axel couldn't drink it because it would make him too hyper or something while Demyx disliked the bitter taste of coffee, much preferring the tea drinks, especially the tapioca milk tea type of drinks.

So, foregoing seeing Kairi in a sexy outfit, I followed Axel and Demyx up to the third floor and went over to the classroom for 3-F. There, they had brought several portable electric stoves, an ice chest full of beaten eggs, containers of diced ham, and bags of shredded cheddar cheese. At the stove were several cooking-savvy third years who were making ham and cheese omelets. With the smell of deliciousness in the air, we eagerly awaited our turn and doled out 75 Munnys each for our ham and cheese omelets. It was very, and I mean _very_, delicious.

With high expectations, we made our way up to the fourth floor only to be disappointed to see class 4-B closed, having sold out all of their tapioca teas. Consoling the disappointed Demyx, we made our way out of the classroom building and into the main courtyard where a large tent was set up for the catered lunch. We each grabbed a bit of everything before finding us a spot underneath an oak tree. And for the first time in months, I found myself enjoying the company of my old friends as we chatting about school, the festival, the latest movies and games, and more. It had completely erased my mind about the movie, the SOS Brigade, and, most importantly, Sora.

But, good things always come to an end too fast and we finished our free food and found ourselves out of good topics to converse about without engaging ourselves in pointless debates. Axel had pulled out his brochure of the festival and was now perusing the schedule of events.

"Divination, talent show, computer exhibition, classical concert, improv… hmm," he hummed thoughtfully, "The SOS Brigade presents 'The Adventures of Kairi Fischer – Episode 00'. I wouldn't mind seeing it."

"I've seen it already, I'll pass," I replied casually.

"Why, that bad?" he frowned slightly. I guess he had high expectations for it.

"Well, no…" I said rather evasively. "I just don't feel like watching it again. But you're more than welcome to go check it out."

"Well, I'd like to watch it too," said Demyx, standing up. "Come on, Axel. Catch you later, Roxas?"

"Yeah, sure," I replied. I was rather miffed to discover that my two old friends would rather watch a stupid movie than hang out with me. Yet, seeing how it's a festival and I hadn't suggested anything else to do before Axel noticed the viewing of our movie, I guess I can forgive them for wanting to watch it.

Now, bored the hell out of my mind, I decided to wander about the school campus and popped into class 1-E just in time to catch the last part of the play that Riku played a role in. His expressions seemed to be rather consistent even live on stage. Giving him credit for his work, I stay to clap for him at the conclusion of the play before making my way over to class 1-A to watch Naminé at work. Surprisingly, even though she said that class 1-A was doing divination, Naminé was sketching out people on a new sketch pad with her crayons.. It would appear that class 1-A decided to also offer the services of the artist and for 100 Munnys, Naminé will sketch a portrait complete with coloration.

The hint of smile on her face was all I needed to know. She's enjoying her job a lot.

Without Axel or Demyx by my side, I returned to the line outside of class 2-E and flipped through the brochure once again while I waited for my turn. It wasn't long before I was shown my seat. After all, it was almost 4 PM and the festivities were ending.

Sitting at the desk, the pungent smell of coffee and tea assaulted my nose, bringing a smile to my face. I didn't have my caffeine for the day and I'll be damned if I don't get my coffee before I go home later.

"Hi, Roxas," greeted Kairi as she handed me a piece of white printed paper that had been through a lot of abuse for the day. I scanned the menu and settled on a cup of caramel macchiato.

"A tall caramel macchiato," I said.

"Coming right up," she replied with a smile as she took the menu from my hand. I took a glance at her uniform and found it rather normal and bland compared to the costumes that Sora made her wear. She sported a black dress shirt and a black knee-length skirt, much like the ones I'd expect a businesswoman to wear. Around her waist was tied a long black apron that just added to the darkness of the uniform. It was a stark contrast to her pale skin and shining red hair.

I took my eyes off of the girl who made some small talk with her classmates while she waited for the barista, another classmate, to make the coffee on a rather lustrous metal espresso maker, complete with coffee drippers, milk steamers, and such. The expert hands of the classmate quickly made my caramel macchiato and Kairi brought my drink over in a paper cup. At least I'm not being served in some espresso cup that was washed in the bathroom or something.

"Enjoy," she said with a smile.

"Thanks."

I took a sip from the crafted coffee and relaxed as the caffeine went down my throat. I didn't care much that it wasn't exactly the best coffee I've ever had, but it didn't taste like burnt water, so I didn't mind it too much. Having a taste of the coffee, I decided to add a little bit of sugar to adjust the taste.

As I sat there savoring the semi-decent coffee, I looked about me at the other patrons of this temporary coffee shop. Group of students sat here and there at the tables chatting with each other, some of their coffee appeared to be largely untouched while others, having wasted however much time they've already wasted, quickly downed their own drinks with a look of grimace as the sharp taste of cold caffeinated drink went down their throat. As for myself, I took my time with my drink until I realized it was getting cold. I quickly downed it before paying for my bill and saying my "good-bye" to the still smiling Kairi.

The festival was coming to an end and I dread having to return to the clubroom to clean up. The lure to just leave the campus is highly tempting. Even with the caffeine now coursing through my veins, I feel extremely lazy. Thinking back on it, I've just wasted a perfectly good Saturday at school doing absolutely nothing. I didn't even go to the clubroom to see if I would be received as a famous movie maker or anything.

That's wishful thinking right there of course. Why in the world would a high school made movie make me famous?

I stopped in front of an open window that overlooked the school courtyard. In the distance, the winter sun was setting. It was only 5 PM but already the sun was setting. It sucks to live at a high latitude region on Gaia. I looked down at the school courtyard to see people bustling about taking apart the tent that covered the food line while others stood around chatting. I laid my eyes on Tidus and Yuna, who were engaged in conversation, and made up my mind.

Damn me for deciding to leave the cleaning up part of the club room to the others in the SOS Brigade and if I have to pay for my laziness on Monday, then so be it. But tonight, I'm relaxing at home.

* * *

_Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belong to Square Enix. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya belongs to Tanigawa Nagaru. Yada yada yada._

_A/N: Huzzah, another chapter done. I think this is the hardest chapter for me to work on since all the excitement's over, haha. Next chapter will include a short descript of people's reaction to the movie and the start of Sora's next "project". We're more halfway through this series though, so thanks for reading and reviewing. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! _


	10. Sora's Latest Fancy

**Chapter 10 – Sora's Latest Fancy**

* * *

That following Monday, I steeled myself for Sora's temper tantrum as I stepped into the classroom. But, it was unnecessary since Sora wasn't in the classroom yet.

"What the?" I muttered to myself, looking up at the analog clock that hung over the blackboard at the front of the room. 7:59. I just barely made the morning bell and Sora's not in class? That's either a good thing or a very bad thing.

I sat down at my desk and pulled out my notebooks in preparation for the lessons of the day. All the while I waited with anxiety for Sora's appearance.

Sora never showed up for class that day.

* * *

"Hey Roxas," said Axel during break as he crouched down next to my desk with a wide grin. "Where's Sora?"

"What am I, his keeper?" I retorted. I might as well be, having been delegated the role of Sora's spokesperson since the beginning of the year. Wait a minute, did Axel just refer to Sora by his first name and not by "Kazano"?

"I just wanted to tell him that the movie was great. And I don't know if you've heard, it won the Best Student Club Exhibit."

"And that means…?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"That means the SOS Brigade gets a pizza party," he replied. Oh joy, pizza party.

"That's boring," I replied.

"Free food, man! How can you say 'no' to that?"

"I enjoy better pizza than the ones the cafeteria sells during lunch. That stuff is nasty."

Axel shrugged. "Better than nothing," he replied. "Am I invited to the party?"

"Probably," I replied with a shrug. Sora probably wouldn't want to take part in the silly "celebratory" party, which means I get to deal with the party on my own. "Ask Sora tomorrow or something."

"Why, you not going to see him after class?"

"He doesn't always show up to the clubroom," I replied, thinking that's what he meant.

"Not at the clubroom. I meant at his house. Maybe he's down with the flu. He looked pretty exhausted on Saturday."

I stared at him like he was crazy.

"What, don't tell me Sora's merry friend doesn't know where he lives," he asked, rather taken aback by my glare.

"In fact, I don't," I replied truthfully. "I never bothered to find out." Not that I would.

"And here I thought you'd know it since you're his friend and all."

"Axel, I don't even know where you live," I replied tactlessly. And Axel doesn't know where I live either.

"Oh."

"You don't know where I live either."

He seemed embarrassed by the fact since he's scratching the back of his head now.

"I know where you live," said Demyx as he approached us. He seems to have a knack for showing up randomly.

"That's only because I've known you for two years already and you had to come over for a project," I retorted. Man, I'm really irritable today or something.

"So where do you live?" asked Axel.

"Ask me again when we have a project to do together," I replied with a grin. I love being difficult.

"Che," he scoffed, "fine, be that way."

At that moment, the bell rang, signaling the end of break.

* * *

After class, I slowly made my way over to the clubroom. I didn't need to hurry since Sora wasn't here and all.

Of course, what met my eyes was a total surprise.

It would appear that no one else in the SOS Brigade had bothered to stay back after the festival. So, the movie was still running on autoloop when I got there. Naminé sat in the corner next to the open window drawing with her pastels and not paying attention to the litter that was on the ground or the foldable chairs that were strewn all over the small clubroom. The place was a mess!

I was speechless. It would appear that I still had to clean up regardless of my desires not to. With a sigh, I stalked over to the DVD player and hit the "stop" button before folding up the chairs to be returned to the student council. I wonder if they noticed that they were missing some fifteen foldable chairs.

Meanwhile, Naminé continued to draw in her corner nonchalantly. I wonder if she had even noticed that I had come in.

I sighed every once in a while as I unplugged the DVD player, disconnected the projector from the DVD player, wound the cables up around the equipment, pulled down the projector screen, pulled down the speakers that I had to painstakingly put up the weekend before the festival, and complete the clean up that I was meant to do on Saturday. At the end of the hour that I had wasted dismantling everything, I felt like either sleeping or just sitting in my seat doing absolutely nothing.

Thankfully, Kairi had come in while I was pulling down all the equipment and offered to sweep the floor and in general tidying up the place with me. I gladly accepted her offer and the two of us eventually restored the clubroom to its original, dull, homey-looking way with a cartful of electronic equipment that I need to return sometimes this week. Lovely.

Riku came in right after we finished cleaning up. If I hadn't noticed the strain on his face as he tried to keep his usual smirk, I might've cursed him out silently for being a bastard. Yet, I noticed that he looked tired and wondered if something happened since Saturday that caused him to look so tired.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just had to deal with a Closed space early this morning," he replied nonchalantly. Somehow, I don't think that's really the case.

"Where's Sora?" he asked as he sat down. I shrugged, sitting down in my unofficially designated spot.

"Didn't show up for class. Probably felt like skipping class today," I replied rather tiredly.

"That doesn't seem like him. I would've thought he'd love to have come to school to hear that our movie was a hit."

"He's unpredictable. Might be looking for something else to entertain himself now that the festival's over. I, for one, would like some break before we start filming another movie." A sudden thought occurred to me. "Kairi, do you know what Sora's doing right now?"

"Eh?" she gaped. A faint blush appeared on her face for no apparent reason—at least not from my perspective. "That's classified information."

I frowned. "I really don't want to call Sora to ask him if anything's wrong," I muttered.

"Then don't," said Riku, stifling a yawn. "Ask him tomorrow."

"Maybe I will," I replied, keeping an eye on Riku for the rest of the afternoon.

Which, without Sora's presence, wasn't very long. An hour after classes have ended, Naminé had ceased her latest sketch and left with only these words for me.

"Sora's fine. He will be attending class tomorrow."

Then, without saying another word besides "Bye", she left the clubroom. The rest of us followed suit and I returned home on this boring, normal day.

* * *

Onward to the next day!

True to Naminé's words, Sora sat in his seat with a wide grin on his face as he faced forward. Did he finally discover that there are aliens in the world? Or that he has some wicked powers that he knows I would be jealous of? In any case, I was rather amused by his expression. Of course, my amusement was quickly replaced by anxiety upon sitting down in my own chair.

Want to know why? For the second I sat down, Sora let out a most devious chuckle softly. I slowly turned around to face him, cold sweat forming on my forehead and gulped. The devious laughter is not a good omen for me. Knowing Sora for the past few months, I can safely say that whatever's going on his mind is not going to be good for me. Yeah, that's right, it might be good for the club, but not for me.

"What are you snickering about?" I decided to inquire with a raised eyebrow. He chuckled rather sinisterly a bit more before grinning at me with a smile that told me I should be scared for my life after class.

"You'll just have to find out after class like everyone else!" Oh yeah, definitely not a good sign.

* * *

So, as Sora instructed, I didn't bother pursuing the subject matter further during the day. However, I never expected him to grab a hold of my wrist just as I had finished packing up my bookbag and dragging me all the way over to the clubroom. How long has it been since he's done that? In any case, I think we might've made it to the clubroom in record time. But! It would seem that Naminé, Kairi, and Riku all sensed something big, because they were all strangely in the clubroom already by the time Sora and I got there.

"Good afternoon, everyone!" he greeted as he slammed the clubroom door open. The heads of Riku and Kairi snapped to face us while Naminé continued working on her sketch, only turning her attention toward the boisterous teen after she had completed the part that she had been working on.

"I know you're all very eager to get working on the next movie, but I think we should take a break from the filmmaking business!"

"You know that the movie won an award, right?" I decided to interject. Sora didn't seem to hear me as usual.

"But, just sitting around doing nothing isn't productive to our mission, so!" He pulled out a folded up poster flyer from out of his bookbag and unfolded it. "I've entered the SOS Brigade in the Struggle Tournament!"

I stood there gaping at him while the others scrutinized the poster, seemingly intrigued by this sport of "Struggle".

Struggle. Oh how I wished I could actually go back and decide to continue with competitive Struggling. Maybe if I had, I wouldn't have been roped into this club and well, you know. Not have to deal with the abnormal in a very normal world. I seemed to have a distant memory of something pertaining to Struggle, but I couldn't remember it then, so I ignored the little nagging voice urging me to remember and focused on the poster.

"It's next weekend," I noted blatantly and blinked at the teen. Two weeks to train for Struggle? It will be a record if we managed to win anything at all; though I technically could use it to my advantage since I've played Struggle before. Anyways, it's a good thing it's indoors. I think we'd all catch the flu overexerting ourselves outside for no chance at winning this thing.

"Yup!" he replied. I continued to blink at him silently and he just kept grinning back.

"Um… what's Struggle?" asked Kairi as she continued to look at the poster, which showed nothing of the sport besides the two Struggle bats crossed underneath large bubble words "Struggle Tournament" and above "Twilight Town".

"I'm going to assume we're starting our practice this afternoon?" I asked, resigned to the fact that Sora's made up his mind about this entire thing.

"Nah. It's too late right now." It's only 2:30 PM, mind you. "We'll start tomorrow. Besides, we need a team of ten to get a team score and participate in the team competition."

"And just exactly who are the other five?" I asked.

The other five happened to be my brother, Hayner, Axel, Demyx, and Rikku. Speaking of Rikku, I really should ask Sora about how he knew the Gullwings. As we stood around on the field after school on Wednesday, I couldn't help but notice the lack of Struggle gear around us. Sora was pacing to and fro eying each one of us, like he was a drill sergeant and we had just been assigned into his squadron.

"Listen up people!" he exclaimed, interrupting the conversations between the rest of us. "Next weekend is the grand tournament. We need to train hard for the next couple of days so we can win the tournament, okay?"

A few scattered affirmatives from the guys responded and for the next hour, we were forced to run around the track. I never knew I had physical education after class.

"I can't wait to see you kick some butt," said Demyx with a smile. Out of the ten people who were running, only Demyx and Tidus knew that I've participated in competitive Struggle. "Why'd you quit anyways?"

"Just didn't feel like continuing on," I replied, though it sounded like an awfully weak excuse. The truth was, I had quit when my last opponent, the reigning world champion of five years—meaning he was at least five years my senior—lost to me in the semifinals and committed suicide the day after the regional finals at Midgar. Tidus had told me that it wasn't my fault that he went nuts, but I simply couldn't get over the fact that I had inadvertently caused someone to kill himself through Struggle. So, I decided to quit and forfeited my trip to the World Championship. Do I regret not participating in the championship? Now I do, but back then I was too shaken up to really care.

"If you say so," replied Demyx, knowing not to push the details.

"Hey, Roxas," said Tidus as he jogged next to us. "We should bring our Struggle gear tomorrow. I don't think Sora has any equipment for a proper Struggle practice."

I frowned at him. "You're just making an excuse to make me show off," I accused.

"Hey, you were a ranked Struggler; you're the best choice to coach your friends."

"You're older and knows the sport, why don't you coach," I retorted. Of course, I know he wouldn't. He saw Struggle as a friendly match between two people who wants to have fun. That's why he never got into the competitive arena for Struggle.

"You're better at it," he replied with a grin. If I could sigh, I would. But since I was busy huffing at the middle of our hour jog, I couldn't.

"Fine," I replied with irritation clearly in my voice.

"I'll bring the gear when I come tomorrow, how's that?"

"That's fine."

* * *

In any case, let me skip all the practicing and just jump right into the tournament. I felt embarrassed when I called the event coordinator about Struggle gear supplies and whether they would be provided or not. Unfortunately for us, they would not be. So, I ended up heading over to the Struggle store I'd been to two years ago to get my teammates Struggle bats and safety gear.

Of course, I used up the club's funds allocated by the student council for it. I'm desperate here!

So, on the day of the tournament, the ten of us got to the Radiant Garden Arena early and began suiting up. To say that I was surprised to see some faces would be an overstatement. More like, they were surprised to see me after these two years. Many of them had known that I had essentially given up my title as the Midgar Struggle Champion and while some understood why I had ceded; others, like the "champion" of that year, thought I was a coward and couldn't wait to taunt me and deride me for my action.

Taking my eyes off of the other competitors, most of whom were middle school students with a couple of elementary school and college students, I scanned over the motley crew that was to represent the SOS Brigade. Thinking back on the past days we spent training, I suddenly remembered that Kairi from the future had told me that I was the one who taught her how to Struggle. Now I know what she meant.

Okay, Kairi. I believe that you're a time traveler now.

I stretched out my limbs to loosen up my muscles in preparation for the matches. I know that some of these fights are especially grueling depending on the fighting style of your opponent, so it would be best to be prepared for exhausting fights than be underprepared. With practiced ease, I put on my protective gear and smiled with eagerness. I actually wouldn't mind getting back into competitive Struggle now.

"Roxas?" came a strangely familiar voice. I turned around and was slightly surprised by the sight.

"Yuffie!" I exclaimed.

Yuffie Kisaragi, my long time friendly rival back in the days of competitive Struggle. She and I had both trained under the same Struggle coach and probably the best out of the bunch under our coach's instructions. We often traveled together between Midgar and Wutai to participate in the amateur competitions until that faithful year when we decided to participate in the Struggle Tour. If she wasn't first, then I would be first back then. It was that way for a year until I quit.

"Never thought I'd see you here," she replied as she inspected me. "You look like you're at top form," she commented, "though a bit on the skinny side." She poked at my skinny arms. I swatted her hand away in jest.

"Yeah, yeah. I get enough of that from Tidus, I don't need it from you," I retorted with a grin on my face. "You here to compete?"

"Of course!" she replied. "It got boring after you left though. I almost quit for a while, but I figured that someone's got to teach Sebastian some manners. I swear, he got so annoying when you gave up your title and went around bragging about his skills."

"Let me guess, you floored him the following tournament?"

"Oh yeah. 200-to-0 in 30 seconds. I haven't fought him since though."

I laughed heartily. Just like Yuffie to win a match in less time than is allotted for the fight.

"So, what brings you back to the Struggle scene?" she asked. I pointed a thumb at the motley crew behind me. Naminé was back sketching in her book while Kairi looked slightly nervous about the entire tournament. Rikku was comforting her, but I don't think Kairi was listening to the blond-haired guitarist. Riku, well, was Riku. Axel was talking to Demyx and Hayner about something I didn't care to listen in on. And Sora was looking around the arena while in his Struggle gear, as if checking out the other teams. Tidus was nowhere to be found.

"My club's participating," I replied. The black-haired girl raised an eyebrow.

"It was on the whim of the club leader," I added softly.

"Radiant Garden High must be rich to allow that sort of fancy decisions." I shrugged. I didn't want her to know that this wasn't actually being sanctioned by the school.

"Are you representing?" I asked her instead.

She shook her head. "Nah. Just here for the individual awards. You should come find me after all this and we can hang out for a bit. Coach would like to see you again too."

"Maybe," I replied hesitantly, looking over to my teammates. An air horn sounded across the arena to signal the beginning of the "opening" ceremonies.

"Well, I gotta head back. Maybe I'll be Struggling against you today."

"I hope not," I replied in jest. "I'm out of practice."

She scoffed. "Yeah right. See you later."

"Later!" I called back as she ran off towards the opposite end of the arena.

"Yuffie looks well," said Tidus as he appeared out of nowhere next to me.

"Where were you?" I asked suspiciously.

"Yuna's attending," he replied.

"She's a Struggler?" I was mildly surprised.

"No, doofus. She's watching," he replied exasperatedly as he smacked the back of my head with an open palm. "Come on, they're announcing the brackets.

"Ow." I rubbed the back of my head tenderly and followed the others to the blackboards.

* * *

The entire tournament's separated into two categories: team and individual. Of course, the way they interspersed the individual Strugglers in the brackets originally meant for teams meant that not all Strugglers get to fight someone from the other team that's in the bracket.

There were two stages to this tournament: morning is the preliminary rounds where each Struggler fights against four different Strugglers from their brackets and the total point they score at the end of the prelims determine their individual placement. The scores of the team Strugglers get totaled at the end of the rounds too to determine the placement of the teams. Of course, the placement of the teams means absolutely nothing for the afternoon rounds.

After lunch, it was the double eliminations round. The top 64 Strugglers are seeded according to their individual scores from the prelims and two losses meant you're out.

As I looked at our bracket, I saw that we were being pitted against Twilight Academy, Destiny Middle School, and a Struggle club from Luca. Thankfully, Yuffie wasn't placed in our bracket. I looked down at the large poster board and found my name, taking note of the representatives who I would be Struggling against.

"Eris Benson, Noah Lincoln, and Seymour Guado," I spoke softly to myself.

"Seymour?" questioned Tidus. "The name sounds familiar."

"Yeah," I scowled. "He got suspended from Struggling for cheating in the Wutai Regional two years ago."

* * *

Since each match was only 90 seconds long, it was easy to fit in ten fights on the two Struggle stages that were allocated to each bracket. Between finishing counting the number of orbs that remained on each person at the end of the match and setting up for the next match, the way the event is set up requires precision and efficiency, both of were executed at the tournament.

Of course, I wouldn't be surprised. It was the last tournament of this sort that would take place at the Radiant Garden Arena this year. A brand new circuit starts next February.

Up first for the SOS Brigade was Riku, who took a stance that suggested that he was clearly well practiced in swordfight. Although his style wasn't exactly orthodox for Struggling, it could potentially throw off the other Struggler.

"Go Riku!" cheered Rikku.

"Show them what the SOS Brigade's all about!" shouted Sora. The silver-haired boy nodded with the smirk on his face before turning to focus his attention on his opponent, a second year Struggler by the name of William Oakley.

"Ready?" asked the referee as he held an arm in between the two Strugglers before he started the fight. Both fighters nodded affirmatively.

"Set!" The two got into their individual stances. "Struggle!"

Right off the bat, Riku leaped forward and made a powerful lunge towards Oakley's chest and pulled off five spheres with the hit. In retaliation, Oakley made a swipe at Riku's open back and the score was back at 100-100. Of course, Riku wasn't fazed by the loss. He immediately pivoted on his heel and slashed at the slighter boy. Without giving the boy any time for a counterattack, Riku essentially forced his opponent into fighting defensively while he remained on offensive the entire time, not even caring about the orbs when they fell from Oakley's gear.

A couple of times Oakley managed to interrupt Riku's attacks with his own lunges and slashes, but they always came up fruitless. Riku wasn't just powerful; he was agile on his feet too. Still, I know that his fighting style is easy to see through if you're a seasoned Struggler. Even if he did make it into the double elimination rounds, I doubt he will get past the second round.

I looked over to the timer and smiled proudly as Riku finished his first match as the victor: 147-43. Maybe we have a chance at winning the team title.

Wishful thinking? Maybe, but I like to dream too!

* * *

_Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belong to Square Enix. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya belongs to Tanigawa Nagaru. Yada yada yada._

_A/N: Oh god. I originally had planned for this chapter to talk just about Struggle and the fights at the tournament. But somehow I digressed and ended up writing more about the stuff after the festival and more about Roxas's life prior to moving to Radiant Garden. In the end, I managed to write yet another filler chapter. Haha. That might be the norm from now on until the end. Thanks for reading._


	11. The Struggle of Sora Kazano

**Chapter 11 – The Struggle of Sora Kazano**

* * *

So remember when I said that the SOS Brigade might have a chance at winning the team title? It turned out to be fairly realistic with all of us winning our first battles. Even Kairi, with a bit of encouragement from Rikku, Naminé, and Demyx, managed to scrape by a win against a first year competitive Struggler. When her opponent stepped off the stage looking rather forlornly, I approached him and gave him a few words of advice.

"Hey, Sam," I said. "Sam Winston, right?"

"Yeah," he replied, still looking fairly down.

"You did well out there for a first year," I commented.

"Really?" he perked up at my words, though slightly suspicious of me.

"Just work on your blocking techniques a bit and you'll probably be one of the best Strugglers of your year."

"How?" he frowned.

"Mmm, I'll ask Yuffie to help you out."

"Yuffie? Yuffie Kisaragi? The Wutai Struggle Champion?" he gaped at me.

"The same one," I replied with a grin.

"How do you know her?"

"I trained with her."

"You must be insane," he said, still shocked that I know Yuffie.

"Maybe I was. But people would've said that she was insane to train with me too," I jested.

He raised an eyebrow at that. Hmm, maybe I shouldn't have said that.

"Who are you?" he asked finally.

"Roxas Uchiyama," I introduced. If his previous faces were full of surprise, then his current face was like a deer caught in the headlights with the Royal Crown Jewels wrapped in a bundle around its neck.

I know it doesn't make sense, but bear with me here!

"_The_ Roxas Uchiyama?" he asked after several awkward moments passed between us. It would appear that my reputation preceded me even all these years.

"Yeah," I replied as I scratched the back of my head nervously. What the hell have I gotten myself into this time? "Listen, do you want me to ask Yuffie or not?"

"Yes!" he responded instantly with much gusto. I laughed at the bubbly show of enthusiasm.

"Alright, I'll talk to her during lunch and see if she's up to it."

"Thanks!" the sixth grader shouted before hugging me like I was his new dad or something. "Good luck with your match!"

"Much appreciated," I replied as Sam Winston ran off to wherever he was heading to. Probably going to go talk to his coach or something.

When I returned to the ringside, it was Axel's turn. Rikku and Hayner had both won their respective battles while Demyx was poised to take the stage next against one of the Destiny Middle School's Struggler.

Out of the ten of us, Demyx had the hardest time getting used to the Struggle fighting style. So, none of us had really expected him to win his first fight. However, it would seem that his opponent had to be clumsier since the self-proclaimed Melodious Nocturne had managed to win 132 to 68. We all might have been staring with open mouths because when he came down the stage, the first thing he say was:

"Oy, close your mouths. Flies are flying into them." Then he burst out laughing.

Sora took the stage after Demyx and out of all of us, he had the closest score to losing. Even Kairi had managed to win with 109. But Sora somehow managed to win 97-90. Granted, his opponent was a fourth year Struggler from the Lucan club.

I know he was rather annoyed by his score, seeing how it was the only thing that would land him a spot in the afternoon rounds. Rikku tried to cheer him up, but he just shook his head and disappeared into the crowds. I looked over to the blond-haired third year and gave her a look of sympathy.

"Roxas Uchiyama," my name was called and I took the stage. I could feel the eyes of a hundred people on me. Did they not expect me here when my name has been written on the poster board for however many times!?

My opponent stood there slightly shaking in her gear. I blinked a bit and wondered if I should give her some words of encouragement.

"Uh, I know I'm rusty and all, but I wouldn't mind Struggling properly," I commented. My opponent, Eris Benson, immediately snapped into the right mindset and prepared for the match. I grinned at that before getting into my own stance, keeping both hands on the handle of my rather old Struggle bat.

"Ready! Set!" The referee looked at the two of us. "Struggle!"

As soon as the hand went up, the younger Struggler lunged toward me. Even though I was slightly rusty, I parried the attack with ease before slashing down on the girl's unguarded back, swiping off some twenty spheres.

"Go Roxas!" cheered Axel and Demyx.

"Focus!" Sora shouted. Hmm, when did he come back?

I grinned confidently and watched my opponent, who was frowning at her mistake. To be honest, although I _was_ rusty, I felt like I've been more alert to my opponent's fighting style after these years of staying away from Struggle. Maybe it's because I've been so used to just fighting against Yuffie and others who trained with me that I couldn't figure out the difference between my style of Struggle and my opponent's style of Struggle. Or maybe it's because I'm more observant now that I'm older.

Regardless of the reason behind my "improvement", I found myself picking up the patterns that Eris was using in her way of Struggle.

A step to the left while moving her bat off to the upper right gives a fairly good indication how she was going to strike next. She was probably planning on dodging my next attack and spin around to strike me on the back. It's a foolproof strategy if your opponent was a beginner, but I could see through the strategy and immediately came up with a counter.

So, instead of attacking her with a series of combos that I had originally thought to do, I decided to bring my left hand up toward the tip of my bat and feigned a defensive stance with my feet planted firmly on the ground. She seemed suspicious at my decision to start playing defensively, but she probably thought that I wanted to keep my lead while I was ahead or something. Playing straight into my hand, she shifted in preparation for an attack.

It was all that I needed to unleash a series of attacks as I lunged forward and caught her unaware. The tip of my bat hit the padding on her torso and she let out a soft "oof" as she took the hit. I then quickly pulled my bat back and brought it diagonally down across her before ending with a powerful horizontal slash that caused her to back a few steps up.

The series of attacks allowed me to settle firmly into my lead as red spheres littered the ground. I slowly made my way around the stage to pick up loose spheres while keeping my eyes on my opponent, who seemed to look more into my fighting style now. I will admit that she is a better Struggler than I was when I was at her age.

I knew that I should've expected her to retaliate at least to score a bit, but I was mildly surprised to find such force behind her attack that my control of my parry wasn't my best. As such, she managed to knock a couple of the blue spheres on my shoulder pad off. I grinned at that; she's got potential to be a good Struggler.

Shortly after she managed to knock three spheres off of me, the time was called. I had won the fight 132 to 65. We approached each other to shake hands in respect.

"It was nice Struggling with you," I commented. "You should work on making your moves less predictable though."

"Yeah," she replied sheepishly. "I never got around working on it."

"Don't stress it too much though. You've got potential."

"Thanks."

I stepped off the stage and took off my headgear. As I shook my head, a good sprinkle of sweat flew around me and I grimaced slightly. It was a nice warm up match though.

"Why were they all staring at you when the referee called your name?" asked Kairi curiously.

"Don't you know? Roxas was a Struggle champion two years ago," replied Demyx before I got a chance to.

"Really?" Rikku asked with awe.

"That's why we had Struggle gear lying around in our house," added Tidus. Thanks guys. I'd like to answer the questions myself please; I'm not mute, you know.

Sora didn't seem too surprised by this new information. I wonder if it he was the one who made me a Struggle champion and if his god-like subconscious knew it too. Before we conversed more, the second round of Struggle had started.

This time around, not everyone was as fortunate as they had been in the first round. Riku still managed to win his 121 to 70 while Demyx lost his terribly with 41 to 154. Axel and Rikku also lost theirs while Naminé, undoubtedly having changed the data of her own bat, managed to scrape by with a win at 104 to 93. Tidus had also lost his by a hair, losing 99 to 101. What was probably the worst was Kairi's, who lost before time was even called, having lost all of her spheres to her opponent, a third year Struggler from the Twilight Academy.

Sora was getting annoyed by this turn of events, but there was nothing I could do about it. It can't be helped that only two of us had experience with Struggle before all of this. But I guess he managed to vent a little bit when he managed to win his next match 171 to 29. His opponent was the unfortunate youngest member from Destiny Middle School.

Yet, Sora's own victory was no help for the team score as the SOS Brigade essentially dropped out of the top ten for the team title. Sora stared at the scoreboard with such ferocity that if he had special powers like Naminé, the board might've spontaneously burst into fire.

"Sora's frustrated," Riku commented to me as I observed the mentioned boy. I nodded silently.

"He really wants the team title, huh?" I asked.

"Of course," the silver-haired teen answered. "You should know that Sora's not the type of kid who takes defeats well." You're not helping the cause by calling him a kid.

"I can't do anything about it," I commented. Riku pointed his thumb over his shoulder and I followed it to see Naminé currently reading a book on pastel drawing, a gift from the magnanimous me.

"That's cheating," I hissed.

"Better than having the world end, I say," he reasoned, grinning at me with that annoying grin of his.

I scowled. "Fine, I'll have her work on the bats. I refuse to have my own changed though."

"Your choice. You _are_ a Struggle champion after all."

Still rather annoyed by the fact that we have to cheat to get the team title, I stalked over to the reading girl and sat down in a chair next to her.

"You wish me to manipulate the data around the bats," she said without preamble while still reading the book.

"You heard what Riku and I were talking about then?"

"Of course."

"Do you agree with Riku?"

"Yes."

"I'm to assume Kairi thinks the same way?"

"Yes."

I heaved a sigh. "Then why haven't you done it yet?"

"I require permission from a higher power to perform the data change."

I blinked at her. "Higher power?"

She turned to face me, shutting her book. "Namely you."

"Why me?" I was confused to say the least.

"You are higher ranked than I am in this organization. Oh, right, I'm technically the to-go-person for the SOS Brigade.

"Do it then," I said. "But don't touch mine."

"Confirmed." She stood up and went around gathering all the bats.

Once again, my name was called and I left Naminé to work on the bats while I dealt with my next match.

Noah Lincoln, in all aspects, looked like he wasn't a Struggler. He was slightly overbuilt for this agile sport, making him seem more like a wrestler on TV than a Struggler. What's even worse is the fact that he towered over me by a good head, making me feel like I'm David and he's Goliath. Of course, what really irked me was the overconfident grin on his face that reminded strangely of Sebastian from years past.

"So you're Roxas," he said. "You don't look that tough."

"And you look it," I replied. It's always nice to feed your opponent false praises if they're overconfident to start with. They might underestimate you in the upcoming match.

"Heh, I don't need you to tell me that," he sneered. If I wasn't so focused on this match, I would've rolled my eyes at him. Of course, I also made it a goal for me to beat the crap out of this buffoon

"Struggle!" the signal went up. Immediately, I dashed over to Lincoln and jumped up, using his head as a means of propelling myself even higher. Hey, as long as you don't swipe the spheres with your hand, it's a legit move. Before he even got a chance to turn around, I brought my bat down on the back of his head before striking horizontally across his back that caused him to lose at least fifty spheres. I didn't care to count but put some distance between the two of us before he swung his bat at me.

He spat down viciously before coming at me with a fast swing at my left-hand side. I was slightly caught off by the speed of the swing and couldn't get a good block with my bat. As such, I went sliding across the stage and nearly got pushed off of the stage by the force.

What a bastard. Trying to make me lose by throwing me off stage.

I narrowed my eyes in anger and saw the sneering grin on my opponent's face. I'll show him to never mess with me.

Thinking back on it, I didn't know how I had managed to move that fast; maybe Naminé had helped me even though I said not to, or maybe I just never thought about it. In any case, after that close encounter with losing, I hurried back to the center of the stage where my opponent was and proceeded to unleash a series of quick slashes and stabs that Lincoln stood no chance of parrying. Whether I was going with a slash or a lunge was difficult to see and within the next thirty seconds, I had managed to secure all 200 spheres and was declared the winner.

Noah Lincoln sat on the stage looking pale and shocked at what had just happened. The Twilight Academy coach, however, was smiling. I raised an eyebrow at that and he mouthed the words "Thank you" to me. I guess Lincoln's never lost a fight and thought that he was invincible, even though his coach didn't think so. I saluted him in a gesture of "You're welcome" before stepping off the stage. My heart, of course, was still racing from all that exertion and I collapsed onto a chair with a sigh of relief.

"You were amazing!" said Axel with shock. Demyx was speechless as well and nodded.

"How did you move that fast?" asked Hayner, also slightly shocked by my feat.

"Years of practice," I replied, taking a swig from my water bottle. Of course, I failed to say that years really only meant months of daily practicing.

"Good work, little brother," said Tidus as he tousled my sweat-laden hair. I shrugged in reply, much too out of breath to say more. "Did you know that the Twilight Academy loves you know?" he grinned.

"What for?"

"For beating that jerk of a Struggler." So I was right.

"They all need to work harder then if none of them could beat Lincoln," I muttered.

"Oh no, the more experienced ones can, even though just barely. Usually Lincoln's managed to make the other forfeit by knocking them off the stage."

"Isn't that cheating?" gasped Kairi.

"Unfortunately, it's legitimate," Yuffie replied as she joined us. Her face was tinged with pink, obvious signs of having just Struggled. "Without a set boundary, people who managed to strike first would just get off the stage and proceed to run around like he's from a cartoon."

"Everyone, this is Yuffie Kisaragi, one of my friends from when I did competitive Struggling," I introduced her to the club.

"I'm Axel Ashborn," introduced Axel.

"Demyx Rush."

"I remember you," Yuffie grinned.

"I'm Kairi Fischer."

"Nice to meet you," said Rikku, "I'm Rikku Home."

"Oh me gosh!" Yuffie squealed. "You're one of the Gullwings!"

"Heh, yeah."

"Riku Hamilton," said Riku "suavely". Yuffie raised an eyebrow.

"Rikku and Riku?" she asked.

"Small world, isn't it?" said the blond-haired guitarist with a laugh.

"Indeed," said Yuffie.

"Naminé Nakahara," introduced Naminé. "It's a pleasure."

"Pleasure to meet you too!"

"Hayner Caldwell."

"Sora Kazano," said Sora at last. He has been surprisingly quiet this entire time. "Roxas, you didn't tell me you were a Struggle champion," he said accusingly.

"I never thought that I needed to mention that fact," I said truthfully.

"You better win the gold medal!" he exclaimed before stalking off.

"So that's Sora," said Yuffie.

"Yeah…" I said watching Sora disappear from my sight. I turned back to Yuffie. "So how were your fights?"

"Just got done," she replied. "Won them all."

"Of course," I grinned. "You staying to watch me versus Seymour?"

"Main reason why I'm here," she grinned.

As I continued to converse with Yuffie, effectively distracting her from the stage where the SOS Brigade, with the manipulated bats, each managed to win their fights with at least 150 spheres. The winning streak thus propelled the SOS Brigade up the standings to number two. If I won my next fight, the SOS Brigade would be declared the winner as the current number one, Dalmasca Struggle Club, had just completed all of their matches and was sitting a full 100 points above the SOS Brigade.

As I took the stage for my last match, I kept my eyes on Seymour, who strangely reminds me of Riku. Seymour's an infamous cheater in the Struggle world. The incident that got him suspended from competitive Struggle last time was a miscalculation on his part, tripping his opponent that caused his opponent to fall off the stage. Before then, he's always managed to either cause his opponent to fall onto the stage, which would knock several spheres from the impact, or he would swipe some spheres with his hand as the two fighters passed each other.

"Go Roxas!" shouted Yuffie as she cheered for me.

"Roxas," said Seymour tersely as he narrowed his eyes at me.

"Seymour," I returned just as coldly.

"I want to see a fair fight," said the referee, obviously knowing Seymour's previous transgressions. He placed an arm between us and both of us got into our stances.

"Ready, set, Struggle!"

I knew that Seymour would be faster off the bat than I would so I brought my bat up just in time to block an attack from the blue-haired man. Forcing his bat off of me, I made slash to his left hand side only to find my attack blocked by his own.

He smirked at me before parrying my bat off and distancing himself from me. The distancing move was rather unexpected, since I've known Seymour to be a close distance fighter with continuous clashes rather than distancing and resetting before another round. Maybe he's actually learned his lesson.

I wouldn't bet on it though.

The time continued ticking and we remained tied at 100 to 100. I waited him to make the first move and saw that as I dodged to one side, his free hand had reached out to grab three of my spheres on my back. In retaliation, I slammed my bat down on his unguarded back, and grabbed several of his spheres as they flew into the air.

"Foul!" cried Yuffie, having seen the entire thing. Thank god for Yuffie being loud and impatient. The judges might've spent several moments deliberating amongst themselves before they called to stop the match. The referee blew his whistle and stopped the match. Seymour was less than happy to find himself on the short end of the stick again.

Before he came over to us however, he walked over to the two judges that were seated off to the side and taking note of the match. They conversed quietly for a while. I fidgeted with the spheres that were still in my hand: two.

The referee turned around and blew his whistle once again. "We have come to a conclusion. Seymour Guado is disqualified from this tournament. Roxas Uchiyama is the default winner. Final score: 200 to 0."

A cheer went up off to my right as my victory over Seymour landed the SOS Brigade a solid first place in the run for the team title. Of course, my two 200 victories also landed me the first seed in the double eliminations round. Oh boy.

I stepped off the stage and high-fived Hayner, who I've come to like quite a lot. What was surprising to find was when Sora hugged me with enthusiasm, his smile beaming at me. Needless to say, Sora was ecstatic.

"This marks the SOS Brigade's first tournament victory!" he exclaimed. "Everyone's treated to a round of sea-salt ice cream!" With that said, he brought out two frozen boxes of the delightful treat on a stick. Even though it wasn't very good for me, having just engaged in an activity, at least the sea-salt ice cream quenched my thirst and provided me with a bit of ions. Besides, it was a treat from Sora the stingy. Who am I to say "no" to that?

Right after my match, we were given two hours for lunch. So Yuffie ran off to bring along my coach and his other students over to join us. The SOS Brigade went ahead to stand in the lines to wait for our sandwiches and drinks.

"Tidus!" shouted Yuna as she squeezed through the throng of people to join us.

"Yuna!" waved my brother.

"Were you bored in the stands, Yunie?" asked Rikku with a grin.

"Oh no. I enjoyed watching," she replied before giving my brother a peck on his cheek. I gaped at them. My brother is going out with Yuna Bikanel. As if I need any more attention directed to the Uchiyama family.

"Congratulations," she said turning to me. I had ceased gaping at her in the short moments that she and Tidus had looking at each other. "You were awesome out there."

"Uh, thanks," I replied, my face blushing. Thank god that my face was still slightly pink from the Struggle match I was just in.

"That's my little brother," grinned Tidus as he tousled my hair. Dammit. He's annoying again.

"I still can't believe it though," she said. "First seed?" I guess she doesn't know about my Struggle career.

"Yunie, Roxas was a Struggle champion!" exclaimed Rikku. Thank you, Rikku.

"Oh my god! That's great!" she exclaimed. Man, why is it that people are always so surprised to find out you might be "famous"? And this is coming from an up and coming star!

Small talk aside, we soon got our food and went to the meeting area outside of the main arena to eat. I searched for Yuffie as I chewed the roast beef sandwich from Pride Lands Sandwich and Salad and found her leading a small group of people toward us.

"Yuffie, over here!" I called out, waving at her. She waved back and they soon joined us on the carpeted floor. I stood up in respect for my coach.

"Coach," I said, holding out my hand for a handshake. He smiled at me and returned the gesture.

"Good to see you again, Roxas," he replied, his eyes full of understanding for me. Even after two years of separation, he understood my decision to leave and wasn't bitter like some of the other coaches I've known. Behind him were three other kids who were young enough to prove that this was their very first tournament. Knowing exactly what my coach expects from me—after all, he made another one of his veterans, Kiros Seagill, give himself and Yuffie the "pep talk" during their very first tournament.

"Are you really Roxas?" asked a young girl.

I nodded. "Come on, let's sit down and eat. Wouldn't be good to fight on a full stomach now, would we?"

The others smiled at that and followed suit. For the next hour, Yuffie and I proceeded to tell stories about our own Struggle matches, our opponents, and mishaps with our training.

It was a good winter's day spent indoors. Maybe I will take up on Struggle again. I do miss these gatherings terribly; even if it meant fighting against some of the most detestable Strugglers I've ever known.

* * *

After lunch, we returned to the stands to find out how the afternoon would be organized. I wasn't surprised to find myself as the first seed while Yuffie was third, the second being a Struggler from Dalmasca named Ashe Nabradia. Riku managed to place 27th while Naminé was 41st. Sora, with his victories, managed to secure the 49th place. Lastly Tidus was 56th.

The layout was exactly as they had described in the morning. The first two rounds would be held in four stages to accommodate 32 fights per round. Each match, however, has been extended to 2 minutes instead of the usual 90 seconds. It made the matches more intense as the extra thirty seconds might turn the tide entirely, allowing the lagging Struggler to catch a break and end up winning.

The third round would be held over two stages for 16 fights, and then the fourth round would be held simultaneously for 8 fights. The quarterfinals would be held for the 4 fights for the last 8 people while the semifinals would be held for the 2 fights to determine who would place and who would not. The finals, which would be fought amongst the four who fought in the semifinals, would be split into two fights each of 3 minutes long. Somehow I felt like I didn't have the stamina to keep winning until then.

Yet, since I'm here, I might as well go the entire way, right?

And so, with that mentality in mind, I stepped onto the stage for my very first match in the eliminations round.

* * *

_Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belong to Square Enix. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya belongs to Tanigawa Nagaru. Yada yada yada._

_A/N: Yay, 2 month "anniversary" since I first posted this fanfic. And yes, I know I'm cruel for ending the chapter right there without elaborating on what happens in the afternoon rounds for them, but it's necessary for the next two chapters. The next chapter will be rather unexpected, but you'll see. Questions? Comments? Feel free to ask/say it in review._


	12. A Brand New World

**Chapter 12 – A Brand New World**

* * *

As I trudged towards school on Monday, I was tired and irritable. I felt like I was coming down with the flu. Heaving a sigh, I continued my way up the hill and onto the school campus under the cloudy gloomy sky. As I made my way to my seat in the classroom, I didn't care to notice that Sora wasn't in class yet.

"Hey, Axel," I greeted my red-haired friend who was wearing a facemask. He sniffed and looked at me with tired eyes.

"Yo, Roxas," he greeted back. Behind him sat Demyx who was also wearing a facemask; he had his head down on his arms resting. He obviously looked miserable.

"You both caught the flu?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Axel replied. "Practically the school's managed to catch the bug."

I grimaced. "Ugh, that sucks."

"Tell me about it. I've never seen so many people absent last Friday."

Last Friday? No one was absent last Friday.

"Ugh, I feel like crap right now," groaned Demyx, whose face seemed flushed.

"You look like you have a fever," commented Axel. "Can't go home?"

"Father insisted that I come to school. I've never hated him more than I do now," he replied.

"Did Sora catch the flu too?" I asked aloud upon noticing the empty seat behind me as the bell rang to signal the start of classes.

"Sora? Who's Sora?" asked Demyx as he looked at me with confusion. I'm going to assume he's also wondering if he had heard me right.

"You know, Sora. The guy who sits behind me?" I explained while blinking my eyes disconcertingly.

"There's no one by that name who's in this class," answered Axel. What!?

"Are you sure you didn't catch the flu too?" asked Demyx.

"Yes, I'm very sure," I replied with a scowl as Mr. Leonhart entered the room for homeroom. The roll call went by quickly but I was shocked to not hear the name "Sora Kazano". What the hell is going on here?

For the entirety of the rest of the morning before lunch, I heard nothing that was being taught. Something about the skewed distribution and something called chi-squared test were the words that I randomly picked up during math. None of it made any sense of course as I racked my brain as to what could have possibly happened for Sora Kazano to have disappeared entirely from my world.

During lunch, I ate with Axel while Demyx left for the infirmary after looking like he was going to throw up during Composition and Literature class. Axel had taken off his mask to eat and both of us were silent: Axel was probably too sick to strike up a conversation while I was too preoccupied to talk.

As I finished my lunchbox, it was then that a commotion occurred at the front of the class. A student had walked in and my eyes bulged at the sight. It was _him_. People asked _him_ how _he_ was doing and if _he_'s gotten over the flu, et cetera, et cetera. It was as if _he_ had never left the class.

_He_ reassured all of the inquiring students that _he_ was just fine and had gotten treated at the hospital over the weekend and is now all better and healthy. _He_ also recommended for all sick students to get treated and such. I simply gaped at _him_. _He_ then walked over to us and smiled at us.

"Oh sorry," said Axel as he picked up his plate of cafeteria food to return to his own seat.

"It's no problem," the newcomer said. "You can finish lunch. Just make sure the desk's clean when you're done."

"Of course," replied Axel as he sat back down. I said nothing but simply gaped at the newcomer.

"Are you feeling okay?" _he_ asked me upon seeing my dazed look. "Do you have the flu too?"

"Why are you here!?" I exclaimed, much too surprised to see _him_ here.

_He_ gave me a look of disbelief and nearly scoffed at my statement. "Why shouldn't I be here? I'm in this class after all!"

"You transferred out months ago!" By now, everyone was staring at me, but I don't care. I don't want to die!

"In case you didn't notice, no, I never transferred out. What are you insinuating here!?" _he_ exclaimed with indignation.

To that, I had no response. Instead, I stormed out of the classroom in search for some sanity. Yes, indeed, the newcomer was none other than Zexion Walters.

* * *

The first thing I thought to do was to seek out Riku; surely he would know what's going on. I ran down the corridor toward class 1-E and sought the silver-haired teen in the classroom. Of course, he wasn't in and when I inquired for Riku from a student in the classroom, she looked like me like I was insane.

"There's no one by the name of Riku Hamilton here," she informed me. Apologizing for my mistake, I decided to check the SOS Brigade clubroom, but not before running into Kairi Fischer and Hayner Caldwell. Or at least two people who looked extremely like the ones who I knew.

"Kairi!" I exclaimed with relief.

"Uh, do I know you?" she replied while scrutinizing me with her head tilted at an angle.

"It's me, Roxas!" I exclaimed.

"Nope, don't know anyone by that name," she replied.

"How can you not know me? We're in the same club together!"

"You don't look like you're in the art club," said Hayner. I blinked with confusion. Since when was Kairi in the art club? I thought she said she was going to quit that one?

"Art club? What happened to the SOS Brigade?" I asked, voicing my obvious confusion.

"What are you talking about? What's the SOS Brigade?" she asked with a higher voice. She was clearly getting frustrated by my insane babble. Well, insane to her ears.

"You're bothering us," said Hayner as he pushed me away. "Come on, Kairi." With that, he grabbed a hold of Kairi's wrist and guided her past me.

"But…" Yet another lifeline lost. Still, there was one more place to check: the clubroom. I hurried to the room that was marked "Literature club" and took in a deep breath, praying that this was all just a prank that the entire school was playing on me. After all, how could Sora and Riku have transferred out without it being such a big deal?

I pushed opened the door and inwardly cheered at the sight of the familiar girl who was pouring over a book like she usually did. However, upon closer inspection of the room and of her, my heart fell. The homey things that Sora had procured for the clubroom were no longer present. There was no rack upon which costumes for Kairi were hung, no water heater, and definitely no triangle with the title "Brigade leader" sitting on top of a desk with a brand new Mac that was "pilfered" from the Computer Science club. Instead, an old HP PC sat on top of the only rectangular table. The familiar girl had on a pair of metal framed glasses as she read.

When I had opened the door, the spectacled Naminé had actually turned to look at me. Her dainty mouth was shaped into an "o" of surprise and she blinked at me with confusion, wondering why this strange, and perhaps deranged, student had barged into the Literature club room without notice.

"Naminé?" I asked, hoping that it was her.

"How do you know me?" she asked. My heart fell even more.

"Is this the Literature club room?" I decided to ask. She nodded silently.

"Not the SOS Brigade club room?" A shake of the head dropped my heart down to the pits of my stomach.

"I need to sit down," I admitted and took a seat at the table, laying my head down on my arms. She didn't throw me out, so I assumed that it was okay for me to just randomly barge in and randomly sit down. Granted, it would appear that in this world, she would remain the sole member of the Literature club.

So did the world get remade over the weekend? Is that the reason why Sora's not attending Radiant Garden High? What's going on here!? The more I think about it, the more depressed I got. Is it going to be like this for the rest of my life? Remembering things that no one else remembers? Or was it all a dream? That Sora, the SOS Brigade, and all the fantastical things we did over the past few months all a simple will of the wisp?

I must've uttered a sound of despair because I suddenly felt a comforting hand on my shoulder. I jerked up and startled Naminé, who looked at me with concern.

"Sorry to bother you," I muttered softly before turning around to look at the bookcase.

"Um," she said softly as she held out a slip to me. I turned to take the paper and saw that it was an application to become a member of the Literature club. "Will you join?"

"I'll think about it," I replied dejectedly, standing up to prepare to return to class. Before I left, however, I turned around to look at her again. "Um, can I come here after class?"

She gave me a smile that I had never seen on Naminé before, it made her look really pretty, and replied, "Of course."

* * *

When I returned to the classroom, I muttered an apology to Zexion and tried to reassure my classmates that I had been watching reading the _Haruhi Suzumiya_ series too much. Some took my words as truth while others remained skeptical and avoided me like the plague for the rest of the day. Not that I'd be one to blame them.

Of course, having the guy who almost murdered me only less than two months ago sitting right behind me unnerved me greatly. And, as he took down notes behind me, all fearful thoughts of my own death once again blocked my learning abilities; not that I'd want to learn anything while I'm under such duress.

They say that fun times pass by fastest while hard times pass by slowest. I believe that case to be true because I found myself looking up at the clock every five minutes waiting for school to end so I could get away from the psychotic guy behind me. That friendly façade doesn't fool me!

After an agonizing length of time, the final bell rang and I quickly packed my books up. Muttering a quick "Later" to Axel and Demyx, I made my way out of the classroom and toward the club building. I entered the Literature club room and breathed a visible sigh of relief.

Naminé was, of course, already in the room and she looked at me curiously, probably wondering what prompted me to sigh so heavily.

"What's wrong?" she asked in her soft voice. The other Naminé would never ask that.

"You're not an alien are you," I asked, knowing perfectly well that she was not. She raised an eyebrow at me and shook her head.

"Sorry, keep reading," I said apologetically. "Don't let my presence bother you."

Of course, my words seemed to have an effect on her. Even though she followed suit and returned to her book, she wasn't really reading. For the next ten minutes, she remained on the same two pages that she had been reading since I entered the room. Her face was slightly blushed. She probably never had spent any time alone with a boy. For that, I felt rather awkward.

As I looked back at the bookshelf, filled with more books than it had in the old world, I wondered how many of these books were hers and how many were here already. A familiar title caught my eye and I stood up to pull it out. I felt her eyes following my every move, but didn't care much for it. Flipping through the first book that the old Naminé had told me to read, I paused when I saw a familiar bookmark nestled firmly in the book. I removed the bookmark and saw a familiar script.

In Naminé neat handwriting, the bookmark said: "Exit program. Condition: Key members. Deadline: Two days later." At the very bottom in very tiny script was: _Fate/Stay Night_. Replacing the book, I quickly scanned the titles for _Fate/Stay Night_ and pulled it out, flipping to the pages like a maniac. Once again, I found another bookmark.

This time I was slightly confused as to the words: "Kazano. Hollow Bastion Academy. Three years ago. Crop circles." Once again, there was another book title at the bottom of the bookmark: _A __Study in Scarlet_. I repeated the process and pulled out yet another white bookmark. "John Smith. Halloween. Radiant Garden Middle School." There was no book title at the bottom of the bookmark, so I must assume that it was the end of the hints.

I sat back down in "my" seat and laid the three bookmarks in front of me. Obviously, Sora is now a student at Hallow Bastion Academy, which is where, I have no idea. And obviously, something must have happened three years ago that rendered this world to be newly made or something to that effect. But, if that's the case, why wasn't this the real world? Did Sora actually make this world? The questions popped up in my head like two rabbits reproducing exponentially.

"Argh," I groaned as I ruffled my hair in frustration. All the hints that the old Naminé or the Naminé I know of is giving me isn't helping me. Yet, I have an inkling of what to do. I have to find Sora and convince him to come to this place. Though I have no idea how to get him here, I guess the first thing I'd have to do is to find him first.

I turned to look at the blushing girl who is still reading the same two pages as she was some twenty odd minutes ago. "Naminé, do you know where's Hollow Bastion Academy?" She turned to me and nodded.

"It's past the marketplace on the other side of the tram station." That would mean it's in the heart of the city.

"Thanks, Naminé," I picked up the bookmarks and got ready to return home.

"Um," the blond-haired girl said as I was ready to leave the room. "Will you come to my house to night?" I blinked at her with surprise. Did she just invite me to her house? "Say around 7?"

"Uh, sure," I replied; it's only 3 right now. My parents won't mind if I head out to a friend's house for dinner. As long as I finished my homework that is.

"Do you know where I live?"

I debated whether to say yes or no. After all, this Naminé doesn't really know me, yet she didn't seem surprised when I told her that I knew her—or did I? In any case, not to freak the girl out even more, I decided to go with…

"No, sorry."

"You know the ice cream shop?"

"At the marketplace?"

"Yes. Meet me there at 7?"

"Okay."

And it's a date.

* * *

After I went home and thought about the hints that Naminé gave me, I was reminded of the stories that Axel had told me about Sora, particularly the one about the alien crop circles drawn in chalk. Does this mean that Sora had help drawing those things? If so, then who's his accomplice?

"John Smith," I said the name out loud. "Such a generic name," I muttered. Lying there on my bed, I allowed an entire hour to tick by before remembering that I had homework to do. Heaving a big sigh, I went to my desk to work on it, all the while cursing at myself for not paying attention during class.

After two hours of busting my brain and hurtling myself against an imaginary mental wall, I managed to complete at least 90 percent of my homework of the day. And just in time for me to head out to the ice cream shop. So with an "I'm going out to meet a friend!", I left the house and cruised down the various streets and thoroughfares of Radiant Garden toward the marketplace.

Like last time, it took me about thirty minutes to get to the ice cream shop, but this time I wasn't late at all. Instead, Naminé had just been walking up when I arrived. She gave me a shy smile and the two of us started walking towards her apartment. A passcode and a ride in the elevator later, we stopped in front of 814, the same room that Naminé had first brought me here to give me a spiel about herself and Sora and how she's an alien and all.

I wasn't too surprised to see the living room looking exactly as it did the last time I was here. However, no crayons and pastels strewn the white rectangular table in the room. In fact, there was nothing colorful about this room at all. It was just, white. It was so white that it was a stark contrast with the open window that was just dark blue, dotted with the occasional yellow, red, and green from the night scene.

"Please, sit," she gestured to a seat. I followed suit and sat down. Once again, she brought out a tray with two mugs of coffee, a creamer, and a sugar bowl. We adjusted each of our coffees in silence before she spoke up.

"Can you tell me more about the world that you know of?" She seemed genuinely interested in the existence of another world where she's an alien!

"Well, what did you want to know?" I asked as I scratched the back of my head. It's okay for me to tell her everything right? If she has powers, maybe she can set things right. Right? So, I decided to tell her everything about the alien her. But, before I got too far, the doorbell rang, much to my surprise.

She appeared to have been caught off guard by the bell, perhaps just remembering something out of the blue. "Excuse me," she said before standing up and walking over to the plastic box that served as a communications link with the outside world. A familiar male voice came over the speakers but the static from the link made it difficult for me to discern who it actually was. Naminé must have a boyfriend or something in this world, because he had said that he brought dinner, and such.

The petite girl said that she didn't need dinner and tried to come up with an excuse to avoid seeing this friend of hers, but he seemed adamant. So, with an "Alright, wait a second," Naminé went over to the door and opened it to reveal none other than…

That right, Zexion Walters. Even though he was meant to be Naminé's back up in the old world, here in the new world, he was Naminé's keeper or something.

"Oh, why didn't you tell me you had company?" he asked jestingly. "It's a good thing I bought fried chicken then."

"I'm not gonna stay for long," I said with a nervous smile. Of course I don't want to be in the same room as my killer!

"Don't go yet," Naminé said softly. The plea was so sincere that I felt obligated to stay. So, I stayed, even though I remained unsettled for the remainder of the evening.

Dinner went by slowly. Zexion was the only one of us who ever said conversation worthy things while I simply went along with whatever he said. Naminé didn't say anything. The blue-haired boy didn't seem to mind the fact that he was doing most of the talking though. And as dinner came to a conclusion, he gave Naminé advice on what to do with the leftovers. I decided that I've overstayed my welcome and stood up to leave.

"You're leaving?" Zexion asked, sounding rather surprised, or concerned. I'm on to you, bastard!

"I really should be heading home," I supplied. "I'll see you at the clubroom tomorrow, Naminé."

"Okay," she replied.

"I'll see myself out," I said, waving good-bye to them. I didn't miss the look of suspicion Zexion had on his face as he looked from me to Naminé and back to me again as I closed the door behind me. Breathing a sigh of relief, I went home.

* * *

When I woke up the following day, Naminé's cryptic words on her white bookmarks still meant little to me. I had hoped that I would come up with some fantastical story that would go with exactly what happened three years ago in my head while I dreamed, but no such luck. Maybe seeing Sora will inspire me.

In any case, the entire morning I spent completely not paying attention, mulling over the hints that Naminé gave me. Obviously, if I was going to go back in time to fix this, there must be a reason why the name "John Smith" is on the bookmark. Is it possible that this "John Smith" helped Sora to draw all those circles three years ago? It would make sense. He must have some accomplice helping him if what I heard from Axel was right. How do I fit into this picture though?

The bell rang, signaling the start of the lunch break. I opted to eat my lunch in the clubroom, perhaps the Naminé from this world will have some idea as to what I'm supposed to say. As I walked down the busy corridor to head outside, I looked out the window to look at the track where I had dragged Sora to only less than two months before. It was the first and only time I've ever kissed someone like that and somehow, the memory of it brought a blush to my usually impassive face.

Wait a minute. Didn't Riku say that I've been chosen by Sora? So, if that's the reason why I had to do all the work for the SOS Brigade, does that mean that I'm also the one who's meant to go back in time to help Sora? Then that would mean I'm "John Smith", right?

So, from what Naminé told me, I must've gone back in time to three years ago during Halloween and helped Sora draw all those circles at Radiant Garden Middle School! That would make sense!

With that epiphany in mind, I decided to just head off to Hollow Bastion Academy to find Sora lest I missed him today. I'd like to get back to my own world as soon as possible, thank you very much! And who could care about detention when the world is more important!?

I slipped out of the school gate with surprising ease and ran down the hill toward the bicycle racks. I quickly unlocked my bike and began hoofing it to the marketplace, which was twenty minutes on my bike from my house. The school, however, was located on the direct opposite direction from the marketplace, so it took me nearly an hour of dodging traffic, pedestrians, and general bicycling hazards to reach the marketplace. Then, it was another ten minutes through the busy downtown to reach the gated grounds of Hollow Bastion Academy, which I noted was a private school.

I looked through the gate and looked to see if school was in session. A security guard saw me and approached me.

"What are you doing?" he asked me.

"Waiting for a friend," I replied truthfully, "he goes to Hallow Bastion Academy."

He raised a questionable eyebrow at me, thinking that I should be in class right now. "I'm a college student," I lied. "My classes are over already."

"You don't look like one."

"Yeah, that's what everyone said," I muttered rather bitterly. The guard seemed embarrassed by his incorrect judgment and muttered an apology.

"Well, class is in session right now. I'd suggest that you come back in another hour."

"Oh, thanks," I said before leading my bike towards a public bike rack near the gate. My stomach growled loudly and I realized that I had left my lunch in my locker back at school. Heaving a sigh, I pulled out my wallet and checked for cash. Fortunately, I had enough money for McScrooge. So I headed over to the fast food restaurant to get some food while I waited for Sora.

An hour later, I returned to the front gate and my heart raced with anticipation. Will I see Sora? What would he look like? Will he believe me? All those questions went through my head like bullet trains. I have a feeling I will have a train wreck in my head when I see Sora.

A familiar bell tolled to signal the end of class and I waited anxiously for the familiar mop of brown hair. I didn't need to wait long when I spotted the spiky brown-hair and, to my surprise and relief, the mop of silver-blue hair of Riku Hamilton.

"Sora! Riku!" I called out and waved at them excitedly as they got closer. Sora seemed to recognize me for a brief moment but then stared at me with suspicion.

"Do we know you?" he asked. Riku seemed to be more suspicious than Sora is of me.

"Well, in this world, you don't," I said lamely, "at least, Riku doesn't." Good job Roxas, make them even more suspicious of you why don't you?

"Riiight," said Riku, mocking disbelief, "let's go, Sora."

"You're weird," said Sora as he proceeded to walk past me.

"No, wait!" I said, successfully stopping them again. "I'll prove it to you. Sora, three years ago, you met someone on Halloween."

"I met a lot of people on Halloween," said Sora sarcastically. "That's not something worthy of stating."

"No, no. I didn't mean it like that. Three years ago, you met John Smith, right? And he helped you draw alien symbols in Radiant Garden Middle School."

Sora's blue eyes widened with shock. I guess he's never told anyone about John Smith.

"How do you know John Smith?" he asked. Riku looked at him and me with curiosity.

"I'm him," I replied with a grin.

"That's impossible," said Riku skeptically.

"I know it's hard to believe, but I come from another world," I said truthfully.

"Explain it to us at a restaurant, I'm freezing out here," said Sora. Riku and I both agreed, so we ended up heading over to a coffee shop next to McScrooge. While I'm there, I proceeded to tell them everything about the old world, how Sora had powers to change the world, how Riku was a psychic, Naminé, Kairi, the Closed space, the SOS Brigade, and everything that I can think of that would pique their interest.

At the end of my explanation, Sora looked like he was ready to jump off the walls with excitement.

"You mean I had these powers that I never knew I had?" he asked excitedly. I nodded as I took a sip of my soda.

"And Riku's a psychic, Naminé's an alien, and Kairi is a time traveler?" I nodded yet again.

"That's so cool!" he exclaimed.

"You're quick to believe me," I said with surprise.

"Why wouldn't I believe you? I've always wondered who John Smith was. He told me that he went to Radiant Garden High, so I've always wanted to go there, but I never saw him when I tried to look for him. Now I understand why, it's because you weren't attending there yet."

"So why did you end up going to Hollow Bastion Academy?" I asked.

"My parents made me," he replied nonchalantly. "I managed to get a scholarship to the place, so I ended up going there just to get people off my backs."

"Oh."

"I want to see my clubroom!" he exclaimed suddenly. "It's at your school right? We can go there right now!"

"Sure," I replied. I had been ready to pull out my wallet but I saw that Riku was already looking at the bill. Too bad I was going back to the old world; I wouldn't mind to have Riku pay for everything. Sora had already stood up and on his way out of the café before Riku had paid.

"You know," said Riku as he replaced his wallet back into his back pocket. "I would like to know more about my powers in this world you speak of." That strangely endearing yet annoying smirk was on his face again.

"If you pay for the bus ride to Radiant Garden High, I'll tell you more." I had my bike to transport after all!

"Sure," he replied. I looked at my watch and was rather surprised by the fact that it was already 4 PM.

"Aw, crap," I said as we waited for the bus.

"Something the matter?" asked Riku.

"I promised Naminé that I would be in the clubroom this afternoon," I groaned.

"Will she still be there when we get there?" asked Sora, his eyes twinkling with excitement.

"Probably." At that moment, the bus pulled up and we hurried on.

* * *

It took us another twenty minutes on the bus to arrive at Radiant Garden High. I parked my bike up and the three of us climbed up the hill toward the school campus.

"Do you have something I can change into?" asked Sora as we entered the locker area of the school. I raised an eyebrow in question but said nothing to voice my curiosity.

"I've got a set of PE uniforms you can wear if you want," I said. "They're in my locker. I haven't used them since my mom washed them last night."

"Perfect," he said. I pulled out my PE clothes and directed him to the nearest boy's restroom while Riku and I stood outside chatting. Well, it was mainly just me talking about what Riku was like in my world and going further into details about his powers.

Five minutes later, Sora emerged from the boy's bathroom wearing my PE uniform. It's a good thing we were of the same general build, or that thing would've looked really awkward on him.

"So, where should we go first?" the supposed-to-be-psychic asked.

"I want to meet the mascot first!" exclaimed Sora.

"Art club first then," I said before leading them off to the building where all the clubrooms were. Based on my wanderings around on the day of the Festival, I recalled that the art club room was on second floor, two floors beneath the SOS Brigade clubroom. So after walking up a set of stairs, we found ourselves standing outside of the art club clubroom.

Sora took no time to open the door and announcing his intentions. "Is Kairi Fischer here?" he announced loudly. From my place, I saw the red-haired girl look up with surprise.

"A-am I in trouble?" she asked hesitantly.

"I'm with the Student Council. We're conducting a survey and you've been chosen!" He walked over to her and grabbed her wrist. "Come on, I just have a few questions to ask you."

Kairi must've recognized who Sora was because she didn't protest when he pulled her out of the club. When she saw me though, she started questioning Sora's true motives. I mouthed an apology as the red-haired girl was dragged down the hallway toward the stairs.

"Roxas, don't you need to lead us somewhere?" called out Sora. I snapped out of my daze, having been reminded of the scene when Sora first brought Kairi to the SOS Brigade clubroom however many months ago.

"Oh, right." Taking back the lead, I led the other three up the stairs to the fourth floor and to the Literature clubroom. I knocked on the door and a small "It's open" came through.

I opened the door and Sora barged in. "Sorry to bother you!" he announced.

Naminé's eyes widened with strange recognition as she looked at the other three. It would appear that they had the same feeling as well.

"Do I know you?" said Kairi as she looked at Naminé.

The old PC suddenly booted up and I hurried over to look at it. The others all stood around me looking at the single line that was on the dark monitor.

_N.N.: If you are reading this, then I am probably no longer myself._

"What's going on? No one's typing!" exclaimed Sora.

"Maybe it's been programmed that way," suggested Riku. I had tuned both of them out, my mind focused solely on the computer monitor in front of me with the lines that connected me to the old world.

_N.N.: When this message appears, it means that you, me, Sora Kazano, Kairi Fischer, and Riku Hamilton have all been gathered here._

_N.N.: This is the condition that needed to be met. You have found the answer._

Even though it was simple lines, I could hear Naminé telling me this in person in the back of my mind. Oh, it was such a relief to know that I'm saved!

_N.N.: This is the Emergency Escape Program. To activate it, hit the "Enter" key, otherwise, hit any other key. Once activated, you will have the chance to repair the space-time continuum. However, neither success nor your safe return is guaranteed._

_N.N.: This program can only be executed once. Once executed, it will be deactivated. Should you chose not to activate it, it will also be deactivated. Are you ready?_

It's so like Naminé to give me a choice whether I wished to or not. Do I want to go back to the old world with all the strange things happening around Sora? Or do I want to remain in this bland world where Sora and Riku are attending a different school, Kairi hardly knows me, and Naminé remains a bookworm. Do I?

"What is this strange writing?" asked Sora as he peeked over my shoulder. "Is this something made by one of those organizations that you spoke of?"

I ignored him and looked at Naminé. "Do you remember this?"

"No," she replied simply. She sounded a bit defensively, but whatever. I pulled out the blank application paper and handed it back.

"I won't need this. Since I'm already a member of the SOS Brigade, there really is no point for me to join the Literature Club. Sorry."

Naminé looked impassively at me, though I swore I could see a hint of hurt within those eyes of hers. The light that reflected off her glasses made her eyes look more emotional than ever. And for a brief moment, I had considered not going though with my decision.

"See you all when I see you again," I said with a grin, as they all looked at me like I had sprouted a second head. Maybe I did, but who cares!? In that moment, I pressed the "Enter" button.

And felt the ground drop underneath me.

* * *

_Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belong to Square Enix. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya belongs to Tanigawa Nagaru. Yada yada yada._

_Author's ramblings (That's right, not just Author's Notes): So when I had originally planned out my chapters, I had just barely scanned over the majority of the novels, which meant that there was a fundamental flaw in the writing of this chapter. In The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, which this chapter is based on, Kyon (who Roxas is based on) had already went back in time with Asahina (who would be Kairi in this fic) and did drawing on the ground with Haruhi (Sora here) three years ago. And that is the main reason how Kyon was able to get Haruhi to go with him back to North High and essentially reset time so he can get back to the actual world that he came from. I'll elaborate more on this in the next chapter. And since I didn't want to say, "Oh, this actually happened before this" and make the chapters out of chronology, I had to make a lot of adjustments. Still, I was rather amused by the fact that I had managed to get this chapter done quite fast. Probably because I rather enjoyed writing and reading this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it!_


	13. Three Years Ago

**Chapter 13 – Three Years Ago**

* * *

Once the world had stopped spinning, I saw that I was in a room that was practically empty save for the usual large table, the old PC that I had been using to connect with Naminé, the swivel chair that I sat on, and a few empty bookcases. The sun was setting behind me but it wasn't as chilly as it could have been.

Have I really gone back in time? How can I tell?

The absence of Sora, Kairi, Riku, and Naminé from the room is a fairly good indication as to when in time I was. And if the weather is any further indication, then I've actually returned back to three years ago on Halloween night.

Now what do I do? There were no one at school at this hour, which is 8 PM, and I have inkling what I should do, but at the same time I didn't. Heaving a big sigh, I decided to start heading out of the school grounds.

Of course, I probably should have expected her presence the moment I went back in time. The one who knew what needs to happen in this timeline and in my own timeline stood waiting patiently just outside of the front gates.

"Roxas, good to see you again," the older Kairi said with a smile on her face. She looked exactly like she did the day when she came to give me the hint "Sleeping Beauty". Sometimes I wonder if these instances when I see her at separate times were all done in a day. You know, she traveling here first and then gone over to three years later right after wards and vice versa. And that both times I've met her she hasn't aged a day. I think I'm confusing even myself here.

"Kairi, can you tell me what's going on here?" I asked immediately. Her smiling face turned serious.

"Undoubtedly you have noticed, a significant timequake occurred on December 17 when you first went to school. As a result of the timequake, many things have changed."

"Wait a minute, if things have changed, why are you still here?" I asked, seeing how if things got changed in the past would mean things got changed in the future.

"This is where you come in. You have been returned to three years prior to the timequake to fix things. First things first however, you need to go perform a task that will ensure the future's safety."

As much as I'd like to be a skeptic, I really don't have a choice if I'm in the past right now. "What do I have to do?"

"Go back to where your house is and take a right on the first intersection, then follow it for ten blocks and make a left. You'll see the person who I want you to help." Can you be any vaguer!? "Oh, here's something Naminé wanted you to have."

"Naminé? From your time?" I asked as I accepted the piece of folded paper.

"More or less," she smiled. "After you're done, I'll meet you at Naminé's place and we'll determine our next step in dealing with the timequake in your time."

"Alright," I said. I unfolded the paper and looked at what was on it. It was in fact an alien symbol which meant absolutely nothing in my dictionary. I'll have to ask Naminé when I see her again.

"Good luck." She flashed me another one of her smiles before she ran inside the school campus. Where she was going, I didn't know. All I knew was that I needed to go find this person who she is speaking of.

* * *

Following her directions, I walked back to my house in record time. Passed it and continued on my merry way. As I turned the corner that would show me the place I was heading to, I saw _him_.

The familiar figure was currently looking at the gate leading into the school grounds of Radiant Garden Middle School and preparing to scale it.

"Oy!" I called out and the figure turned his head toward me. Under the broken dimmed street light, I could still make out the familiar spiky and the twinkling blue eyes that glared at me with annoyance.

"What?" he replied with irritation, leaning back against the concrete wall next to the gate. It was only now that I've truly felt that I've gone back three years.

Staring at my darkened face, Sora looked much shorter than he was three years later. And even though his hair was less wild than they were now, there was no mistake. The boy standing in front of me was the younger version of our beloved SOS Brigade leader. And even though he was dressed casually in a plain white shirt and a pair of baggy red pants with surprisingly large pockets, Sora Kazano still looked the same to me. I'm going to assume that this is the guy who I'm supposed to help.

"Who are you?" he asked me. "A pedophile? A kidnapper? You look suspicious." Oy, oy, I'm only fifteen. And what in the hell do you mean I look suspicious!?

"You're the one looking suspicious," I decided to say. "What are you doing here then?"

"What else would I be here for? To illegally enter the premise, of course!"

If I was a police officer, this would be the time where I arrest you and take you home. And when your parents see you with a police officer, they would scold you while I would give them a lecture about not educating your kid what's right and what's wrong. Blah, blah, blah.

"Why?"

"You came just in time. I don't know you, but if you're free, then help me out!" Of course, he was just like himself three years later, ignoring me. Must be a habit of his. "Or I'll call the cops."

What the hell!? I should be the one who's called the cops. But whatever, I've already resigned to my fate to have to help out Sora Kazano even in a time when I didn't know Sora.

Sora scaled the gate and opened the said-metal-barrier with a key.

"Where'd you get them?"

"I stole them when no one was looking," he replied simply before sliding open the gate and walking off further into the dark grounds. Just like Sora to be a pickpocket and do that.

Anyways, I followed him into the dark grounds and across the track field to a particular corner next to a shed. Hidden behind a couple of shrubs were a chalk-drawing machine, a rusty wagon, and a large bag of chalk powder. So this is why the older Kairi told me to come to Radiant Garden Middle School? To help Sora "vandalize" the school as the school administrators so aptly labeled it?

"I had these hidden beforehand during the evening. Pretty clever, huh?"

I didn't care to find out how many times Sora's already broken into the school prior to this. As he carried the bag of chalk powder onto the wagon, I realized just how young he really was. He was at least a head shorter than I am and definitely not as strong as I am. I guess it makes sense, I would only be 11 or 12 three years ago.

"Let me do that," I offered. "You go get the chalk-drawing machine."

Even though the reasonable side of me argued that I shouldn't be abetting his criminal activities, I knew that I was meant to be the one who helped him draw these strange symbols on the field as Axel had said. Riku's words about me being the one who started this whole mess came to mind and I sighed internally at my own folly.

"Follow my instructions and draw the lines. That's right, you're drawing. I need to watch you somewhere afar to make sure that you don't make any mistakes drawing what I want to draw."

I wonder if he realizes that I'm a high school student three years his "senior". I will have to say, for him to order around a high school student without flustering, that is indeed Sora. If I had met him before I met the other three, I would've definitely said he was mental.

So, following Sora's instructions, I drew lines along the left and right side of the track for the next thirty minutes. No security guards came to investigate, and no police came despite obvious loud complaints from the neighbors.

As I drew, I was suddenly reminded of the strange alien symbol that was on the piece of paper which sat rustling in my pants pocket. I stood silently looking at the pattern and indeed it looked like the symbol that Naminé had drawn for me. Sora then snatched the machine from me and began drawing a few more lines.

"Do you believe aliens exist?" he asked. That was rather out of the blue.

"I guess," I replied. The image of Naminé went up in my head.

"Time travelers?"

"Probably. I wouldn't be surprised if they exist, even though they won't tell us what the future is like." Kairi's cute face as she said "Classified information" came to mind. Besides, I'm one right now.

"Then what about psychics?"

"They're everywhere, I guess?" I thought about the numerous dots that flew about in the Closed space so many months ago.

"And dimensional travelers?"

"I wouldn't know about that," I replied truthfully. "I haven't met one yet."

He huffed before throwing aside the chalk-drawing machine.

"This should do."

I began to feel slightly uneasy when Sora huffed and acted very much irritated. Did I say something I shouldn't have said?

"What's your name?" he asked curiously.

"John Smith," I replied, the name that was on the bookmark came easily to mind.

"What!?" he replied with disbelief. "Are you an idiot?"

"How does the name 'John Smith' make me an idiot?" I retorted.

"You don't look like a 'John Smith'," he replied simply. Why does he have to be so perceptive!?

"What school do you go to?"

"Radiant Garden High," I replied without thinking. Eh, let him go try to find me. I won't be there until three years later.

He still didn't quite believe me.

"By the way, what's this for?"

"Can't you tell? It's a message."

"For whom? The spirits that come out during All Hollow's Eve?"

Sora looked slightly surprised at me. "How'd you know?"

"Well, it _is_ Halloween. And I happened to know someone who does something like this too."

His eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. "Really? I'd love to meet that person. Is there such a person at Radiant Garden High?"

"Yup."

Too bad that person is you, Sora.

"Hmm, Radiant Garden High, huh…"

He seemed pensive as he muttered to himself. Chances are, he's probably thinking about going to Radiant Garden High after middle school now. The future is saved!

"I'm going home now. I've achieved what I came here for. See ya."

He ran off in high spirits without even a word of thanks. And truthfully, I didn't expect one; since that _is_ how Sora would've behaved back in my time. Besides, he never gave me his name all this time; which is probably a good thing.

I looked back at the abandoned chalk-drawing machine and wondered if I should bother putting it back next to the shed. But seeing how Sora didn't bother, I chose not to bother either. Besides, I have an appointment to keep with Kairi at Naminé's place.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, I found the older Kairi waiting with yet another smile on her face in front of the front gate leading into the high-end apartment where Naminé Nakahara resides.

"You're right on time," she said with a secretive smile. Hmm, I wished I had tested this theory: if I had decided to loiter around the marketplace earlier on and then come, would the future have been changed?

"So, why are we here?" I asked her.

"We need Naminé's assistance to fix the future," she replied simply before gesturing at the intercom. Of course she would want me to be the one to communicate to Naminé, I'm the one who has to deal with everything after all!

I punched in the number 814 for Naminé's apartment and waited. A click indicated that someone, probably Naminé had picked up.

"Is this the residence of Naminé Nakahara?" I said into the speaker.

"Roxas," Naminé's voice came through loud and clear. I blinked with surprise. How the hell did she know that it was me!?

"Uh… yeah," I said.

"Come in," she said and a click from the gate sounded. I opened the gate and led the older Kairi into the elevator.

"How did she know…" I decided to ask the older woman. She had another secretive smile on her face as she shook her head.

"That's not for me to tell you," she replied.

"Oh."

We stopped in front of the door marked 814 and I knocked hesitantly. The resident opened the door and…

I found myself staring at Naminé, who looked exactly like she did back in my time. She still wore that white dress of hers and the room behind her looked exactly like when I had first visited her place. Did we actually go back in time!?

"Naminé?" I questioned as I stepped into the room followed by Kairi.

"That is my given name, yes," she replied.

"How is it possible? You don't look like you're younger."

"That is because I'm in stand-by mode. My mission starts in three years. So until then I will be remaining in this room on stand-by mode."

"I see." Yeah right.

"How do you know who I am?"

"I have performed temporal synchronization with my future self. I am in fact the same person as you met on the first day Sora Kazano came to the Literature club room and thereafter."

"Oh." I said lamely.

"Anyways, Naminé," said the older Kairi. "We need your help to restore what happened three years from now on December 17th."

"Tell me."

So, I proceeded to tell her how I woke up on Monday and found the entire world changed; how I found these bookmarks that she left for me and how they helped me to get Sora, Riku, and Kairi to the clubroom, the Emergency Escape Program, and how I came to be here.

"Understood," she said.

"Can you help us?"

"Let me confirm the status of December 17th." With that, she closed her eyes. And within a second, she reopened them.

"Unable to synchronize," she reported quietly.

"What does that mean?" I asked, afraid what it meant.

"My temporal variant of that time period has set up a barrier which selectively blocks my attempts to access."

"Does that mean there's nothing you can do from here?"

She smiled at me and nodded. "However, it is possible to undergo restoration from that point in time. I have an idea of what to do."

Naminé picked up a white crayon from the table behind her and the crayon floated in her hand as it twisted into a whirlpool shaped before settling on a very disturbing shape, one that would strike fear into the hearts of any human being on the receiving end of it.

I gulped and hesitantly gave her my comment, "It looks like a very huge syringe."

"That is correct," she replied.

As a colorless liquid filled the syringe, she explained, "This is the Restoration Program that needs to be injected into the temporal converter."

"Um… isn't there a more reliable way to do this? I'm sorry to say this, but I'm not used to jabbing needles into people. Wouldn't it be disastrous if I stabbed it in the wrong place?"

Naminé's eyes sparkled with slight humor before saying, "Very well."

The syringe then changed shape and turned into a gun. At least I can deal with this smaller object.

She then placed the shiny pistol into my hand. "The chances of this penetrating clothing are high, but it's better for you to directly shoot the target's skin."

"What about the ammo for this?"

"This is a short needle gun," she said simply. "The program has been infused with the tip of the needle."

"Oh, I see."

"So what exactly happened three years from today?"

"The temporal converter has stolen the power Sora Kazano has and used it to alter reality. Therefore, the altered Sora Kazano does not have the power he is supposed to have. The Data Integration Thought Entity is non-existent as well. Everyone in that reality has been given a new set of memories 365 days before December 17th."

"Why was I the only one who remembered everything?" I asked with a frown.

"You should know why," she replied.

No, I don't.

"Uh… then tell me this. Who is the culprit?"

She stated the name. To say that I'm shocked would be the understatement of the year. I couldn't believe my ears.

As I stood there speechless, Naminé turned to the older Kairi. "Let me give you the space-time coordinates of the target."

"Sure," she said before holding her palm out, which Naminé tapped. That's it?

"Coordinates received. I understand. We just have to go mend her up right?"

"Correct."

"Wait, you're not coming with us?" I asked with surprise.

"I have to stay here to implement the things that you said I had implemented," she said. "The gun is more than enough to deal with the temporal converter."

"Alright," said Kairi, "shall we go?"

"Please wait." We looked at her with expectation. "In this state, you two would be swept into the space-time continuum change. Countermeasures must be taken."

"What do you want us to do then?" I asked.

"You wrist, please," she said. Tentatively, I held my arm out to her and she took it, before biting lightly on my wrist.

"Wha!?" I exclaimed with surprise. Although the bite didn't hurt, it still looked awfully strange and felt a bit prickly. Maybe Naminé's saliva contained some sort of anesthetic. Whatever it was, I felt rather awkward like this.

After biting my wrist for about five to ten seconds, she released my wrist.

"What is it?"

"Your body surface has been applied with a data-manipulating stealth barrier and protective shield."

I looked at the two small holes in my wrist that had already been healing. So I've been injected with Naminé's nanobugs, eh?

"You too," she said turning to Kairi.

"Oh right," the older woman said. "It's been a while since I got injected," she admitted with a blush.

"It's my first time."

"That's right," she replied with a smile. Naminé performed the same procedure on Kairi as she did on me, but this time much shorter. I surmised it's because that Kairi's been injected with the bug several times already that there was no need for a longer injection.

"Well, Roxas, ready to save the world?" smiled Kairi.

"Ah, yeah," I replied. Turning to Naminé, I grinned, "Thanks."

"No problem."

At that moment, I felt that Naminé looked extremely lonely in her white room. "Hey Naminé, I'll see you then, okay? Be sure to wait for Sora and me in the Literature clubroom until we show up."

"I will wait," she replied with a nod.

"Close your eyes, Roxas. This can be a very disorienting journey," Kairi said as she took hold of my hands.

I nodded and closed my eyes as instructed. Instantly, the dramatic dizziness began. It was as though I was sitting in a roller coaster with my seatbelt off. Between the loop-de-loops and screwdriver parts, I couldn't tell whether the blood was rushing toward my brain or leaving my body. And despite the fact that I had closed my eyes, I still felt dizzy. The sense of floating weightlessness continued until…

"We're here," the time traveler said and I opened my eyes. The sensation on being on firm ground was back again and my sense of gravity was also back. The urge to throw up had disappeared.

"This is the time and place that Naminé had directed us," she said. I looked up and saw the clear stars above us. As I looked around, I noticed that I was standing in the courtyard of Radiant Garden High where I had taken Sora and Riku through to get to the clubroom building.

"What time is it?" I asked her.

"It is three forty in the morning on December 17th. In about three minutes, the world will be changed."

It all started here, this exact time when the world had been changed. No Sora at Radiant Garden High, no SOS Brigade, no Riku the mysterious transfer student, no Kairi the time traveling mascot, no Naminé the data-human interface. Zexion had returned and the entire world had been infected with the flu; well, at least half of the student population at Radiant Garden High.

"This way," said Kairi as we slowly made our way toward the front gate of Radiant Garden High. We stopped short of the open gate to peek at the figure that was steadily coming towards us.

"Here she comes."

The space-time converter had emerged from the shadows and into the light under the street lamp that stood right outside the gate.

It was the person Naminé had mentioned. The person who had altered the world, separated the members of the SOS Brigade, and turned everyone into normal human beings. And right now, that person had started making her move.

As much as I wanted to just shoot her right now with the pistol, I couldn't. Naminé had specifically instructed me not to shoot until after everything has changed. Or else the history where I had used the Emergency Escape Program wouldn't be there and the whole world would change and who knows where we'd actually be now.

The person had reached the front gate but didn't seem to notice us as the winter wind blew her skirt about. Thank you, Naminé.

That person lifted one arm and made a gesture as though grabbing onto something invisible in the air. It didn't look natural to be certain.

"Wow," Kairi exclaimed softly next to me. "That was a powerful timequake. I can't believe my eyes."

I was skeptical of what Kairi was saying, but seeing how she was from the future, I didn't doubt that she could have witnessed that person use some power to cause a massive change to the history of this world. Now I realize why Naminé had injected us. If we hadn't been injected, we would been caught in the alterations and find ourselves in a rather confusing situation.

I held my breath as I saw the culprit look around and turned her head toward our direction.

"Don't worry," Kairi said reassuringly. "Right now, she's been reborn and the timequake is over. Roxas, it's time."

"Right." I emerged from the darkness and walked into view of the culprit. When she noticed me, she was astonished and I felt rather guilty suddenly.

"Hiya," I greeted with a wave. "It's me. We meet again." I sound like a cliché good guy who's managed to crash the bad guy's party unintentionally.

Thinking back on it, I realized that all of the personalities of the SOS Brigade members had stayed relatively intact. Only one member's personality and mannerism had changed completely.

Under the night sky, the tiny figure stood there not knowing what was going on and blinked with confusion at me.

"Naminé," I said at last, "this was all your doing, right?"

"Why… why are you here?" she seemed to stumble over her words like Kairi used to do.

"I was about to ask you that same question."

"I'm taking a walk," she replied uneasily. She knew, as I knew, that _that_ was a lie.

I looked at the pale girl in front of me and sympathized with her. Even though her three-years-ago-self had said that it was all because of the erroneous files that were accumulating in her memory database that had caused her the reconstruct the world and that it was inevitable. But deep in my heart I knew that it's because Naminé, who didn't really understand emotions and frustrations, had become the problem solver of the SOS Brigade. She probably didn't want to change the things I told her to change or solve the things that the rest of us could have solved on our own. But, because she wasn't designed for that, she couldn't go ballistic or shout at the top of her lungs to vent her frustrations.

I couldn't blame her for this. I probably would have come up with the silly notion to change the world. If I changed the world, then I wouldn't be the go-to-person for every problem the SOS Brigade encounters.

This is the world that she wished for, a normal world like this. And the only reason why she preserved my memories was to let me have the decision. Is the altered world better or the original one better? She didn't want the burden of the decision on her conscience.

"Damn it." Why is it always ended up being me who has to decide?

Of course, having been used to the crazy things in the old world, it shouldn't come as a surprise that I would pick the original one as the better world.

"I still prefer the original world. This world is too boring and just doesn't suit me. I'm sorry, Naminé. I don't like how you are in this world. I prefer the Naminé from before. At least she understands."

This Naminé looked at me with a puzzled face, "What are you talking about?"

Yup, definitely rather have the other Naminé who seem to know everything.

"Naminé," I said calmly. "Even though you have asked me over and over again, my answer is still the same. Please return everything to normal. As long as you give the signal, I'll be there for you. And no matter what happens in the clubroom, there is no need for you to forcefully change the world. Everything will be just fine."

"Roxas," Kairi said solemnly. "She doesn't understand."

"I see," I said sadly. "I'm sorry."

I took out the gun and pointed it at Naminé, who instantly froze on the spot. I felt extremely guilty for having to do this, but there is no point for me to hesitate when I really want to go back to the old world.

"Everything will be returned to normal soon. You can even go nuts if your programming allowed you. So don't worry," I said with a sad smile on my face.

"Roxas, watch out!" Kairi screamed out.

I felt someone ram into my back, causing me to lose my grip on the gun.

"I can't let you hurt Naminé!" a voice rang out.

I turned my face and saw the smirking pale face of a blue-haired boy.

Zexion Walters.

"What the-" My words were interrupted when pain exploded in my abdomen as a flat object had been thrust deep into my body. I felt disorientated and stared at the smirking face of Zexion. What was going on here? Why was Zexion here?

The said-boy snickered as he backed off from me and pulled out the bloody dagger that he had used to stab me.

Unsupported, I fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Standing before me, the altered Naminé slumped to the ground with fear and shock in her eyes.

"Zexion?" she said quietly.

Zexion turned to smile at Naminé and said casually, "Hello, Naminé. Don't worry. As long as I'm here, I'll eliminate anyone who threatens to eliminate you. That is why I'm created after all. It's what you wished for isn't it?"

That can't be right. The Naminé I know would never want this. She wouldn't kill a bird just because it's not singing. This Zexion that had been created so strangely must be because of the "errors" that had accumulated in her database as Naminé from three years ago so aptly labeled it.

Zexion's stood over me with a wild gleam in his eyes.

"Allow me to send you on your last journey. As long as you're gone, everything will be fine. It's your fault that Naminé had to suffer in the first place." Now wait a minute, that's totally not entire my fault! "Does it hurt?" he cooed mockingly. "I'm pretty sure it does. Better enjoy it while it lasts, because that'll probably be the last sensation you'll ever feel."

As the dagger was lifted up over his head, I thought wildly. Is this the end? Am I going to die before I get to finish High School? Please, I don't want to die yet!

The dagger came down towards my heart…

Only to be grabbed by a bare hand. This is something I've seen before.

Unfortunately, my vision was becoming blurrier by the second, so I couldn't tell who it was.

The altered Naminé exclaimed with a "Huh?" while Zexion had screamed, "Why? You're... Why!?"

Whoever it was, the person didn't say anything.

"I'm so sorry, Roxas. I should've know, but…"

"Roxas! No, you can't!"

Was it my ears deceiving me or had I just heard two Kairi's simultaneously? It must be an illusion. One of those things that you experience when you're about to die.

Dammit, I'm actually going to die! I haven't even written a will yet!

Another person appeared above me and lifted me to pick up the needle-gun that Naminé had made underneath me. His voice sounded strangely familiar.

"Sorry about that. I have my reasons for not rescuing you right away; after all I had to endure it too. Anyways, we'll take care of the rest. I already know what to do now and you will know too. So just go get some sleep for now."

What? Who? Do what? As the images of my life in the past two days flashed before me, I gradually fell unconscious.

* * *

_Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belong to Square Enix. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya belongs to Tanigawa Nagaru. Yada yada yada._

_A/N: Ick, another rather long chapter. Originally I had planned on having two more adventures to be included in this fanfic, but after deliberation, I decided to leave one of them off for now and make it one of the initial chapters for the next Haruhi-based fanfic, which basically means it'll happen during the second year. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this new chapter and stay tuned for the final three chapters!_


	14. Fixing the Future

**Chapter 14 – Fixing the Future**

* * *

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was a white ceiling with fluorescent light tubes shining down on me through a crinkled clear plastic board.

This isn't my room.

"So you're finally awake," said a tenor voice off to my right. I groaned as I sat up and looked at the person who sat with a smirk on his face.

Am I still in the altered world? "Do you know me?" I asked.

Riku raised an eyebrow at me. "Of course I know you. Did that coma do something to your brain?"

"Coma?"

"You have been asleep for three days," he said tactfully.

"What!?"

"Do you remember what happened right before you fell into your coma?"

The last thing I remembered was Zexion stabbing me…

My hand instinctively went to the site where I should have been stabbed. But, instead of finding bandages or a scabbing scar wound, there was no wound at all. The skin wasn't even broken.

"What happened?" I asked, my voice coarse from disuse.

"Your second fight on the afternoon three days ago was against a brute of a Struggler. He knocked you off the stage and you hit your head on the ground hard."

"That doesn't make sense. Wouldn't my headgear have stopped me getting a head injury?" I questioned with suspicion.

"That's what we thought too. But you just laid there unresponsive. The whole arena was in chaos when we found out what happened. We took you to this private hospital at my Agency's behest and you've been in a coma since. The doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with you."

My hand went to my head, but there were no bandages or protective netting.

"You didn't suffer any external or internal damage," explained Riku. "That's why the all the doctors were so baffled."

"So what happened before then? What happened with my first fight?"

The silver-haired teen raised an eyebrow at me. "You even forgot that? You fought very hard to win against, who was it? Ah yes, Brian Johnson."

No idea who that is. "How did everyone react to…" I pointed at my head.

"Well, your friend Yuffie looked like she was going to kill Thomas Wheatley, who was your second opponent that afternoon. Kairi started crying over your prone body and Sora looked like he'd seen a ghost. It was the first time I've seen him freeze up like that. I think he thought you were dead. Your brother had taken charge and made us make sure people weren't crowding over you. Naminé called an ambulance. The entire event had come to a screeching halt."

I looked around. "So where's everyone?"

"We've all taken turns looking after you. Kairi should be coming soon to relieve me. Of course, Sora believed it was only right for him to look after his subordinates. He's been here this entire time." He pointed to my left, where Sora had laid his head down on his arms that were on my hospital bed and was sleeping soundly.

He looked so cute that I had almost wanted to draw on his face. Almost.

"Don't you have to do something first?" suggested Riku as he gestured more to Sora. Goddamn it.

I laid a hand on Sora's shoulder and shook him lightly, which was enough to wake him up.

"Five more minutes…"

"Sora," I said. I guess that was enough to fully wake him up.

"Ah!?" he gasped before looking around him wildly. When he looked at me, his expression was one of anger.

"Damn you, Roxas!" he exclaimed. "Warn me next time before you wake me up! I wasn't ready to wake up yet!"

Now that's just asking for the impossible. But I'm glad to see you all worked up over this. It's more effective than any medicine out there for me.

"Sora."

"What," he muttered angrily.

"Wipe your drool off."

His left eye twitched slightly before he quickly rubbed at his mouth and then stared at me.

"Are you sure you didn't draw anything on my face?"

"No," I replied. He seemed suspicious.

"Sorry to make you worry."

"You better be!" Just the Sora I expected.

A soft knock at the door interrupted whatever Sora had been planning to say next. The door opened to admit Kairi who entered with a vase of Paopu flowers.

"Oh thank goodness," she said softly. I half expected her to break down and cry, but I guess Sora's presence is a No-no on crying in public.

As a result of my being in a coma for three days, I was given a punishment of having to treat everyone to the Seventh Heaven on New Years Day. I gladly accepted the punishment, even though it would be an expensive fare. More time to spend with the SOS Brigade means less time to think about what would have happened if everything was back to "normal".

Anyways, my family came and visited, so did Yuffie, Axel, Demyx, Hayner, and even the Gullwings. They were concerned about my health. Aww, I'm flattered guys.

On the other hand, having to spend the rest of the day undergoing tests after tests can take a lot of you: MRI, EEG, PET scan, CAT scan, you name it, I had to take it. Thankfully there was no need to look at my innards. That would've been painful as hell.

At the end of the day, my family left with the visitor's hour over and the lights turned off to signal bedtime. I lied in my bed thinking, thinking about what happened before I fell unconscious and the unknown man who spoke to me.

"I see now." I said aloud to myself. That unknown man was me; which meant that I would be going back in time to three days ago and say the same thing to myself, so as to not change the future. Great… Just wonderful.

And instead of me being stabbed by a dagger, I would be the one who pointed the needle-gun at Naminé and shoot her. I couldn't save myself because this had happened to me. If I saved myself before then, the future would've been changed.

With that revelation achieved, I waited for another visitor who I knew will show up once everyone was gone.

And as I expected, shortly after I came to my realization, the door quietly opened to admit the straight-faced Naminé. She immediately came over to the seat where Riku had been sitting in however many hours ago and sat down.

"I am responsible for everything that has happened," she said flatly. "My punishment is currently being assessed.

"Assessed by whom?"

"The Data Integration Thought Entity."

"Why didn't you tell me that you would go AWOL?"

"If I did, I would've erased your memories completely. Besides, no one can guarantee what hasn't happened will happen."

"You left an Escape Program for me! That's more than enough!" I was beginning to grow angry, not at Naminé, not at myself, but at the Data Integration Thought Entity.

"I cannot guarantee that I won't go AWOL again in the future. As long as I continue to exist, my internal errors will continue to accumulate."

"Is there no way to correct those errors?"

"Negative." She paused a bit, before starting again. "There is a very likely possibility that I will go astray and a very dangerous one."

"Fuck that!" First time I've ever used such strong language in front of anybody, ever. "Relay this message to your boss for me."

Naminé seemed taken aback by my swearing because she had blinked with surprise.

"Tell it, him, her, whatever gender your boss is. If your boss even thinks of letting you disappear, then I'm going to let all hell break loose. I'm not going to let you go without a fight. Even though I don't have any powers, I can provoke Sora pretty well. I'll join up with Sora and transform the world completely. We'll create a world similar to the one in those three days where you existed but the Data Integration Thought Entity. I'm pretty sure they will be even more disappointed if that happens."

And how will I achieve this? All I have to do is tell Sora that I'm John Smith and hammer it into that thick skull of his that he is all powerful, that Naminé's an alien, Riku's a psychic, Kairi's a time traveler. We'll go rescue Naminé from wherever it is that her boss hid her and throw the universe into chaos. I'm sure they'll love that!

Naminé simply looked at me and nodded.

"I will relay the message." She then gave me a smile.

"Thank you."

* * *

The following day, I was released and the first thing I thought to do was to gather Kairi and Naminé together. Unfortunately, since school was out already and my family having plans to leave the city for winter break, I didn't get a chance to fix everything. They all thought that my getting away from Radiant Garden for two weeks would be good for my health and my head. So, I just had to settle for the first day of class after we get back.

* * *

That first day after class resumed, I went straight to the clubroom after the lunch bell rang. Not to surprisingly, I found the two of them waiting for me in the SOS Brigade clubroom. Both of them seemed aware what I had planned to do.

"I'm pretty sure I don't have to tell this to you," I said as I looked at the two of them.

"I understand that we need to go back to December 17th at 3:43 in the morning," said Kairi with a knowing smile. "My superiors have notified me." She was slightly baffled though. "But why though?

"The world had been altered," stated Naminé simply. Kairi raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Really? Oh gosh, I didn't even feel it."

That's because it was Naminé who used Sora's power to change everything that you didn't feel a thing. But I really didn't feel like adding more salt to the wound.

"I want you to do something for me," Naminé suddenly said as the three of us held hands in a small circle. It feels like we were going to play Ring-Around-the-Rosie in the clubroom.

"What is it?"

"Don't say anything to the me in the time we are visiting."

"Oh, okay."

"Let's go then. Close your eyes, Roxas," said Kairi. I did as told and time moved in a swirl. I felt like I'm in a blender mixed with a cocktail shaker. Oh, I feel like puking.

As soon as it happened, it stopped and the feeling of gravity weighing me down was so comforting.

"We're here."

I opened my eyes and saw that we had landed right in the middle of everything that happened three days ago. The time when the world had been altered, I had come back to confront the AWOL Naminé, and got stabbed.

And by middle I mean, we stood just outside of the front gate behind which the older Kairi and I had been hiding just… two weeks ago? I guess it only seemed like a day ago when it happened, but it was technically more than two weeks ago.

I haven't hated Einstein more than ever at this current moment.

From where we stood, the older Kairi and I were only mere silhouettes underneath the bright streetlight, but it was still too close for comfort.

"Don't worry," Naminé said. "They can't see or hear us. A barrier has been set up."

Oh good.

Next to me, Kairi was awfully confused as she blinked at the silhouette that's supposed to be her older self.

"Uh, who is she?" she asked as she pointed at her future self. As much as I'd like to point it out to her that it's her future self, the older Kairi had made me promise I would never say a word to her younger self about the presence of her older self, since she never heard it when she was younger. Stupid future restrictions!

Then, the moment of truth came. Even though I had been expecting it, it still gave me goose bumps looking at the event. Suddenly, Zexion Walters appeared out of nowhere and ran past the invisible us. He charged straight at the past me.

"Roxas, watch out!" the older Kairi's voice rang out. I looked over to the younger Kairi briefly, noticing that she seemed rather oblivious to the familiar voice.

"Oh no, Roxas!" she exclaimed with a pair of wide eyes. She moaned miserably as she looked on to my "dying" helplessly.

From where I stood, the scene was rather grisly. I groaned and winced as the dagger went into my stomach. The feeling of déjà vu washed over me as Zexion snickered evilly and pulled the bloody dagger out of the old me forcefully.

"It's time," Naminé said and the barrier that had surrounded us disappeared. Immediately, Kairi went over to the injured me while Naminé intercepted Zexion.

The same shocking phrases came out of the psychotic teen and I looked down at my bleeding self with a grimace. With a sigh, I reached down to pick up the gun and held it in my hand firmly. I gave my past self a sardonic smile, knowing perfectly well that I didn't see it, and repeated what my future self had told me.

"Sorry about that. I have my reasons for not rescuing you right away; after all I had to endure it too. Anyways, we'll take care of the rest. I already know what to do now and you will know too. So just go get some sleep for now."

My bleeding self fell unconscious and soon after, so did the younger Kairi. The older Kairi lifted her hand from her younger self's shoulder and stood up with a smile.

"You came," she said.

"Sorry for being… late," I said, even though we were probably right on time.

"Why?" the timid Naminé asked. I turned to look at her still sitting on the ground looking very much like a frightened kitten while our Naminé was disintegrating Zexion. The dagger that he had used to stab me was reduced to dust and Zexion was disappearing as well. This entire time, Naminé had been intoning various "incantations" and spoke nothing but that.

"Why?" Zexion asked our Naminé. "Isn't this what you wanted? Today? Why?"

The questions remained unanswered and the teen disappeared completely, disintegrated once again by his superior.

"Why?" the timid Naminé asked again. I wanted to answer her, but I had promised the Naminé I know that I wouldn't say anything to her. Speaking of the Naminé I know, she had laid a hand on my wound and without fail, speaking in that scary language of hers, healed me. The complexion of my injured self had returned to a healthy fleshy color.

So that's why I didn't have a wound when I woke up.

Wordlessly, Naminé took the needle-gun from me and pointed it at her former self before pulling the trigger.

Instantly, I could see a change in the demeanor in the formerly astray Naminé. She stood up stiffly and pulled off the glasses. She looked exactly like the Naminé I know.

"Request synchronization," she said. I looked over to the Naminé who simply stared at her past self. To be quite honest, seeing two Naminés at the same time is a rather unsettling sight; especially since she's said that they were one and the same and never changed.

"Request synchronization," the past Naminé repeated again. The Naminé who came with us immediately replied this time:

"Request denied."

The Naminé who held the glasses in her hand blinked. I blinked as well with confusion.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I don't want to," the Naminé who still had the needle-gun in her hand replied.

What the hell? Did I just hear right? She denied the request because she didn't want to? That has got to be the most human thing I've ever heard her say.

The other Naminé frowned slightly, but seemed to understand.

"Understood."

Neither one of them said another word after that and for a couple of seconds, no one said anything. The older Kairi nudged me and gestured for me to say something.

Knowing what I had to do, I said gently to the Naminé from the past, "Go return the world back to its former state."

She nodded with an "Understood." However, before she even did anything, she gave a "Heh?" much like Kairi had done multiple times whenever Sora asked her to do rather dangerous things while we were filming our movie.

"Unable to sense the existence of the Data Integration Thought Entity."

"Oh right," I said. It was still the altered world after all.

"Let me do an adjustment," said the Naminé from the future/present. "I am still connected to the time and space I'm from."

"Understood."

"After the transformation, you can move according to your own wishes."

The Naminé from the past looked at her future self with slight confusion before turning to me with her head tilted, her eyes glimmered with interest.

At that moment, I understood who this Naminé was. This Naminé was the one who appeared at the hospital that night and relayed to me annoying things I'd rather not think about from her boss.

It was also then that I understood why Naminé had rejected synchronization. She didn't want to tell this her what she has to do. Why not? Who knows?

"Roxas?" said the older Kairi. "Please take care of me." I nodded silently before helping the sleeping girl up and onto my back for a piggy-back ride.

"A large scale timequake will be occurring soon," she said with anxiety. "But it is more complicated and significant. Trying to see what happened exactly will be extremely hard."

"I understand, but why do we need to make this change?"

"We need to correct the flow of time. Think about where you were when you woke up."

Oh right, I was in the hospital.

"Yes, so we need to turn this into that."

The older Kairi placed a hand on her younger self's shoulder and Naminé walked over to join us, giving her hand to the time traveler.

"It's up to you, Naminé."

Our Naminé nodded her head and then stared at herself. The other Naminé didn't say a word but gave a soft smile of understanding. The me that had fallen unconscious still lying there will wake up and say everything I had said. Don't forget to call your boss a "bastard" for me, Naminé.

"Close your eyes, Roxas. Don't get time sick."

I followed her advice and closed my eyes.

Even though I had traveled through time twice already, I was still disorientated by the experience. Not to mention, this time was much more nauseating. Noises blasted into my ears and light flashed in front of my closed eyes brightly. I couldn't resist opening my eyes and saw us standing in front of the Radiant Garden Arena where I was getting loaded onto an ambulance on a stretcher. Tidus followed in soon after. A crowd of spectators and competitors stood watching with worry and Sora had said a couple of words to the EMT before getting on as well. As the ambulance began to drive away, I saw Yuffie standing with the rest of the SOS Brigade Strugglers looking rather disconcerted while Kairi had hid her crying face behind her hands. Naminé was nowhere to be found, but I guess that's to be expected.

The feeling of gravity hadn't returned by the way.

The older Kairi breathed out a huge sigh. "Roxas, now we'll return to the original time."

The scene I was watching faded away and we continued on our way. I have to remind myself to take some motion sickness pills before I time travel next time.

"Aim at the time you came from. Follow that me. It'll take her awhile to wake up. Don't worry, you won't get lost." With that, I felt the older Kairi disappear.

I almost felt like panicking when Kairi disappeared, but I didn't need to. For the moment right after that, we landed back in the SOS Brigade clubroom and the feeling of dizziness faded away.

"Forty seconds had passed since we left," Naminé intoned softly. Then with a smile that reminded me of the altered Naminé, "We're back."

Back to our own time and own world.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I put the sleeping Kairi down in a chair and wondered when she would wake up.

"Oh man," I said before picking up my mug of coffee and taking several Sora-sized gulps. Did you know that Sora drinks coffee like he drinks water? Yeah, seriously. Maybe that's why he's always so energetic.

Tiredness seeped into my bones and the knowledge that I've fixed the future came into mind. That year was over, and as much as I look forward to next year, I can only cringe at what is going to happen. Will more world altering events occur that I would have to fix with Naminé and Kairi? Will Riku bring me into another Closed space to show me things?

Pushing those thoughts out of my mind, I yawned and pulled off my overcoat to put it on the sleeping girl.

"Naminé, before she wakes up, take care of her?"

"Of course."

"See you tomorrow." Naminé nodded and looked at me.

"Oh, thanks for your work today. Sorry I made you go through all that again."

"It all my fault," she replied.

I gave her a weak smile before I waved good-bye and left the clubroom feeling very much tired. I felt like I had done what ten people did in a month in these past few weeks. Having traveled back in time twice already to make sure the future stays on its course, I guess I had lived through many days within a minute. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to curl up in my bed and go to sleep until the sun shines on my face the next day.

I rode my bike home and crashed in my bed, sleeping a dreamless sleep.

The following day, I went to school with only one thing in mind. Did Kairi go back to December 17th after she woke up? She didn't do anything but sleep when we were back there because of the older Kairi's presence. Naturally, she would've gone back again to check up on me, right? But, since the older Kairi didn't warn me about the potential of her younger self going back in time to check up on the past me, I guess I didn't need to worry much about it. And since I didn't meet up with Kairi again until the first day of class resuming, I guess she didn't go back in time to check up on me. Maybe Naminé told her what happened without letting her know that her future self was there. I can only hope that's the case.

By the way, remember when I had wondered if more world altering events would happen? One happened within a week of classes resuming.

And I didn't even tell Sora that I'm John Smith or tell Kairi that the woman she saw on December 17th was her older self.

I hate it when I'm right.

* * *

_Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belong to Square Enix. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya belongs to Tanigawa Nagaru. Yada yada yada._

_A/N: Yay, short chapter! Haha. In my opinion, it's a welcomed relief compared to the previous chapters that are quite long. In any case, I'll let you guys try to figure out what's the next chapter about. Here's a hint, it's one of the episodes in the anime. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for the next one!_


	15. An Internet Crop Circle

**Chapter 15 – An Internet Crop Circle**

* * *

The following Monday, I made my way to the clubroom silently cursing at Sora. Why am I cursing at Sora?

Well, it was finals week and while I received no reprieve from the teachers to opt out of my finals after spending three days in a coma, I had spent the majority of my days studying. And while I spent the entire testing period filling out my answers and in general having no time to rest, somehow Sora's always managed to finish with thirty minutes left. And so, he was always napping for the last thirty minutes while I scratched my scalp raw for answers that managed to be lodged in the back of my cranial filing cabinets.

God that's annoying. Oh so very annoying.

So upon the conclusion of tests for the day, I had gone to the clubroom expecting a cup of piping hot coffee waiting for me.

No such luck for me.

Sora sat at the computer with a face of annoyance upon seeing me.

"Why did you knock?" he asked.

"No reason," I replied dully before sitting down in my usual seat.

"Hey, Roxas, come see this," Sora said. Damn you, and I just sat down too!

I sighed, got up, and went to the computer to look at whatever it was that Sora wanted to show me. What met my eyes was a computer generated image that seemed to be drawn by a child.

"What's that supposed to be? An imitation of Picasso?" I asked. Sora glared at me with a scowl.

"Can't you tell what it is?" he asked with exasperation.

"No."

"It's the SOS Brigade's logo!"

Oh. Wait, come again?

"This is our logo?"

"Yeah! I'm thinking about putting it on our website on the front page. It hasn't gotten much traffic since you put it up!"

Probably because there's nothing on there besides a title and a counter. You didn't even give me the stuff that you wanted me to put on it months ago!

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I want you to put it on there."

I blinked at him. He could've done it himself but he wants me to do it?

"Why don't you do it yourself?"

"Because I'm the Brigade leader! It's my job to order people around. Just do it already!"

I resisted the urge to sigh again before sitting down at the computer. Without resizing the image, I put it on the website. That being done, Sora made me get up and sat back down to fiddle with the website.

Goddamn it, Sora. If you were going to change the website yourself, why didn't you put the image on the website yourself!?

Shortly after, Riku and Kairi came in and another day was wasted in the clubroom. I really should have spent that time studying.

* * *

It was a Wednesday when she came. She came to us with a worried face and only came at her classmate's insistence.

Who was she?

It was Olette Griffiths, the Computer Science Club president's girlfriend.

The Wednesday a week after I had fixed the future with Naminé and Kairi was a strangely warm winter day. It was more than welcomed since it made physical education that much more bearable in the wintry weather and it also served as a foreshadowing for warmer days to come when spring arrives. I can only look forward to the multitude of flowers blooming at the Radiant Garden Central Park. It has always been an Uchiyama tradition to go to the park and have a picnic underneath cherry blossoms in keeping with our Japanese roots. And since there was a Sakura garden in Radiant Garden, we've always gone flower viewing for the past years we've been here in April.

But I digress.

When Olette showed up at our door with Kairi that afternoon, I had almost wondered if the SOS Brigade was going to get another member. But, seeing how Olette wasn't _actually_ recruited by Sora, I could safely say that she wasn't here to join us.

Instead, upon Kairi's explanation of why Olette was here, I was reminded of the flyer that Sora had handed out at the beginning of the school year.

"The SOS Brigade Proclamation. Our SOS Brigade is looking for mysteries of the world. People who have experience something strange in the past; people who have run into something strange recently; people who plan on a strange experience in the future: if any of the above applies to you, come see us! We will solve your problems right on the spot! Of course, a normal mystery will not do. Make sure that it's a mystery that will wow us! Make note of that."

So what is it that brought Olette to us? It went something like this.

"So you're saying that your boyfriend's been missing for the past three days?" Sora said as he sat in his swivel chair facing the concerned girl. Pinned on his arm was a new armband which said "Master Detective".

Olette nodded forlornly while Kairi comforted her.

"He was supposed to meet me after school everyday for the last few days," she said sadly. She reminds me of Kairi when she's sad. "But he never showed up. When I went to his classroom to look for him, they said that he wasn't there. When I went to the Computer Science clubroom, they said he hasn't shown up for the past three days." She moaned miserably.

"Hmm," hummed Sora as he became thoughtful. Hey, guess what, Sora? We might have an actual mystery on our hands! He looked at the girl and with a very serious face, said:

"The SOS Brigade will take your case."

The brown-haired girl's eyes brightened slightly at the confirmation and thanked us. For the next thirty minutes, Sora proceeded to ask the fraught girl where her boyfriend lived, what hobby does he have, who does he live with or work with or see on a daily basis, what places does he go to often, and such. His behavior reminded me exactly of the time when we went to Naminé's apartment complex to delve into the mystery of the transfer student.

Also known as Zexion Walters.

At the end of the thirty minutes, Olette thanked us for our help before Kairi walked her home. The rest of us were soon dismissed as well since Sora said that he needed to go plan out a course of action to tackle this case.

In other words, the day came to an end rather normally.

* * *

After class next day, once we were all assembled at the clubroom, Sora took us on a "field trip" to the apartment where Pence was living. And as Olette had informed us, he was living by himself. Apparently his parents were living in the country or something and had bought a condominium for the teen. How I envy his freedom.

Not really.

The apartment building where Pence was living at was neither new nor old with no elaborate external décor. The entire building was gray; looking very much like no one had bothered to paint over the cement. It reminded me strangely of a crappy imitation of the architecture style of Le Corbusier. And I do mean crappy; I guess the architect thought it was a great idea on paper but it completely failed to be executed. It looked extremely dull compared to Naminé's posh apartment complex.

We stood in front of the door into the third floor apartment of Pence Griffiths with Sora staring at the green steel door as if looking for something peculiar. He then grabbed a hold of the doorknob and gave it a clockwise twist.

"Locked," he muttered with annoyance. He tried the knob again, but it remained locked. He pushed on the door and found that the door didn't budge. I would've been surprised if it did unlock.

"We should scale around the back," he said turning to me. "We can get in if we smash the window right?"

"First of all, there's no balcony. Second of all, I'm no urban climber," I said blandly. I would've added the part where I didn't want to have a criminal record sitting at the Radiant Garden Police Department as my third reason for not wanting to scale the building, but somehow I felt that if I mentioned the fact, Sora would've made a face at me and shouted something along the lines of "Where's your sense of adventure!?"

"You're right," he said before becoming slightly pensive. "Maybe we should go ask the landlord for a key. If we tell him that we're concerned friends, he'll surely let us in."

You seemed to like that excuse a lot.

Without waiting for my response, Sora began walking back the way we came and I made to follow. Naminé went to the door and turned the knob counterclockwise.

Lo and behold! The knob twisted and she pulled it open.

"Oh, it wasn't actually locked?" said Sora with surprise. "Guess I overlooked the other way."

I took a glance at the silent Naminé and she gave me a hint of an amused smile.

Sora entered the apartment and began exploring the small place with the curiosity of a kitten. The rest of us filed in leisurely before eventually making our way into the bedroom where wrappers for sea salt ice cream sat haphazardly across the desk. He must really like sea salt ice cream.

Our fearless leader had it in his mind that the missing person—I kid you not, he didn't remember who we were actually looking for—had transferred like Zexion or had a bad case of the flu or some other illness that landed him in the hospital. How in the world does he come up with such half-assed reasons!?

In any case, having gotten bored of bouncing up and down on the springy bed, Sora had left the room to rummage in the refrigerator. It was then that Riku had stepped really close to me.

"We should leave," he said in all serious, his trademark smirk was nowhere on his face.

"You're a bit too close," I nearly squeaked.

"I agree with his sentiment," said Naminé, getting nearly as close as Riku to me. What the hell is going on here?

"There is a familiar sensation here," Riku furthered, his eyes scanning the droll room, "one that I would've preferred not to feel here."

In the background, Sora cheered as he found remnants of a box of cream puffs in the somewhat empty freezer. Kairi, who was unfortunately the closest one out of all of us to Sora, was force fed two of the frozen treat by our overzealous leader. The result? She had a bad case of brain freeze.

Taking our attention away from the spectacle that Sora was making of himself, I turned to Riku with a frown.

"What familiar sensation?"

"Closed space," he replied seriously. "This place smells like one." How the hell can you smell that? Teach me!

On second thought, I'll leave the Closed space radar ability to you.

"There is a dimensional rift here," added Naminé. "Phase conversion is occurring."

Say what? But seeing the two serious faces of the two people who I know has power that might correct this situation, I had no choice but to agree with them. I turned my face toward the eating Sora and sighed.

Thankfully, Sora got bored of the apartment right after he finished the last cream puff and had thrown away the box in an empty trashcan. We quickly followed him out and at the bottom of the steps outside of the apartment, he turned around with a grin on his face.

"I'm hungry, so you're all dismissed for today!" he exclaimed.

"What about Pence?" I asked. I was rather concerned about the disappearance of the guy.

"Eh, it'll resolve itself. He probably had to go to the hospital or something," said Sora. "Anyways, later!"

With that, he ran off and the rest of us began to disperse…

Three minutes later, we had all assembled back in front of the apartment.

"Why are we all assembled here without Sora?" asked Kairi, looking at Riku and Naminé.

"Those two think there's something wrong with the room we were just in," I answered.

"Yes," answered Riku. "We should know more once we're back in there."

So, at their insistence, the four of us returned to Pence's apartment where we sat around the bedroom while Naminé inspected the place.

"A limited area of timespace aggregated anomalies with non-invading tendencies has been acting within this room."

Come again? "What?"

"A different dimension exists where we are," answered Riku. "This place feels like Closed space, but it is not Closed space."

"Is Pence's disappearance due to this anomaly?" asked Kairi.

"Yes." Without another word, Naminé raised her hand and began speaking rapidly in her alien language. A bright light blinded the four of us and I regretted not telling her to give us more warning before she did that.

When I could see again, I was shocked by where we were.

"What the!?" exclaimed Kairi with surprise as she looked around us. The vast desert stretched to the horizon and beyond everywhere we looked. And not a cloud in sight.

"Ah…" I uttered, unable to find words to describe my shock. I'm pretty sure we were just in a cramped apartment. Weren't we?  
"Entry code analyzed," said Naminé robotically. "This place overlaps with normal space. A section of it had opened to the normal space."

"So it's not a Closed space," said Riku thoughtfully. "It seemed deceptively similar."

"This dataspace contains fragments of the junk data that originated from Sora Kazano."

"How significant are those fragments?"

"Not very."

"Sora was the trigger that caused the rift."

"I see."

"Someone explain what's going on here to us, please?" I said exasperatedly.

"This fragment from an alternate dimension has overlapped with our own," said Riku.

"And Sora was the one that made it possible, right?" continued Kairi.

"That is right."

"So Pence is somewhere around here?" I asked.

"It would seem that way. When this world appeared, the Computer Science club president somehow entered the space and got trapped within."

"So how do we find him?"

Naminé raised a finger and pointed. "It's come."

I turned around and gaped at the largest data creature I've ever seen. The currently amorphous blob of a thing lit with sparks and fragments of data as it floated before us.

"I can sense animosity from it," said Riku. Thank you, Mr. Tact! I felt extremely vulnerable standing in front of this blob and looked over to Kairi, who seemed rather nonchalant about the appearance of this… thing.

"Am I the only one who's afraid for my own life?" I exclaimed. Kairi gave a giggle.

"I don't have any weapons with me," she said. "But with Riku and Naminé here, we shouldn't have anything to fear."

The blob eventually assumed the shape of…

"What is that!?"

"It would appear to be an _Ariolimax columbianus_," said Riku simply. I stared at him. "Otherwise known as a banana slug."

"That's not what I'm asking," I muttered with annoyance. Why is there a banana slug here!?

"It's the creator of this space," said Naminé.

"Sora?"

"It's not made by him. But he caused its inception."

A small black fireball looking sphere appeared in Riku's outstretched hand as the weapon that is called a Keyblade appeared in his other hand.

He chuckled softly. "It would appear that even though it's imperfect, my power does work here."

"Will it be enough?" asked Kairi with a slight frown.

"I'm at a tenth of my power here. It might be enough."

"Just what is that thing's identity?" I asked Naminé.

"It's a subspecies of data life form," she answered. "It's using the brain tissues of a male student the increase its probability of existence."

"Pence is in there!?" I exclaimed as I pointed at the giant banana slug.

"Exactly," said Riku, pointing to his forehead. "I do believe that this is the very image of fear for the president."

Pence is scared of banana slugs… I hope Sora doesn't find out about that.

"If we defeat it, the alternative space should collapse," continued Riku. "Am I wrong?"

"No. You are right," replied Naminé simply.

"Then this should be easy," said Riku. "Dark Aura!" He shouted as threw the ball of power in his hand at the data form that had assumed the form of a slug. To my shock, the slug jumped up and dodged the ball. The ball exploded upon impact with a sand dune.

"Naminé!" I shouted with concern as the slug flew toward the blond-haired girl. Her lips moved unnaturally fast as a barrier came up in front of her. The slug, with its own barrier, collided into the barrier at full force and I was reminded of the time when Naminé had erected a barrier to counter Zexion's projectiles.

The slug backed off as a cloud out of nowhere rained on it with green sparkles. What the crap? Is this some sort of roleplaying game? The slug has been healed by-I think I'll stop there.

"Last Saber!" shouted Riku. He had managed to get in close proximity to the slug and was in the process of swinging his black Keyblade as he shouted. His weapon glowed with a blue light and the sword-like weapon sliced through the data like a hot knife with butter. The slug thrashed about before stilling and collapsing onto the hot sand. It then dissolved into white dust, leaving behind the unconscious form of Pence Doyle.

With the destruction of the data being, we were returned into the cramp apartment and Naminé went straight over to the computer, booting it up as she explained.

"Two hundred thirty-three million, four hundred fifty-seven thousand, nine hundred eleven years, four days, three hours, thirty-six minutes, and two seconds ago, the larval form of the data being that we had just defeated came to Earth. With no means of thriving, it went into a status of hibernation. With the evolution of humans and the advent of the internet, the data being evolved and grew. However, it did not manifest in the normal world until Monday."

She pulled up the SOS Brigade website and I gaped at the mess of codes that was on it.

"The logo that Sora drew contained exabytes of data and allowed the being to enter into our world."

"You're kidding me," I said once I've gotten over my state of shock. "I'm pretty sure that it's only a few kilobytes large."

"There is no mistake. This image contains exabytes of information. The maintenance of the entryway has resulted in the corruption of multiple files on the interspace.

"So what do we do?"

"We have to free everyone before the interspace is normalized," she answered.

I sighed. This is going to be a long day.

* * *

At the end of the day, we had located four other students from Radiant Garden High who had stumbled across our little website and freed them from the Closed space.

It was also a good thing that Kairi had brought Olette over to the clubroom on that Tuesday. He didn't have to see the mess of gibberish that was our webpage. So, eager to fix it before Sora came, I spent a nerve-wrecking hour scratching my head in frustration as the page refused to fix itself.

"Let me," said Naminé as she stood behind me. What the, when did she stop drawing!?

I gaped at her for a little bit before relinquishing my seat to her.

"Go ahead."

Thank god, Sora wasn't here to see this.

Naminé's fingers flew across the keyboard like an expert computer programmer. It was so fast that I almost had trouble seeing where her fingers went. Not to mention the fact that the speed which she was going at looked rather bad for the keyboard. I'm hoping that we won't have to replace it any time soon.

"It's done," she said and pulled up the webpage that would be shown to the public. Indeed, everything was okay.

"Thanks."

"Sure," she said before standing up stiffly and returning to her sketchbook. She didn't look at me as I stared at her.

Thank god for Naminé.

* * *

_Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belong to Square Enix. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya belongs to Tanigawa Nagaru. Yada yada yada._

_A/N: Shortest chapter ever! Probably why I managed to finish writing it in two days when it took me about four days to write the last chapter. I felt a bit rushed, but I think that's only because the previous chapters have been rather lengthy. Hum. Well, one more chapter to go and the first year of high school will be coming to an end. Rather sad, but at least there's three more years to write about! By the way, who recognized where exabytes come from? Haha.  
_


	16. Someday in the Rain

_Dedications: This last chapter of _The Melancholy of Sora Kazano _is dedicated to all the wonderful people who reviewed, both registered and anonymous._

_Thanks to A-dizzle, Aros Iruk Leax, khfreak116, Marcus1233, PirateCaptainBo, psalmofsummer, dark-ranmaru, pink-revolt, DarkEmoGirl, Echo the Ethereal Swordmaster, Weeee, earth2water1element, no dang name is available, and Elle Steinig. Your reviews have inspired me to write as fast as I could. This chapter is for you._

* * *

**Chapter 16 – Someday in the Rain**

* * *

The showers came quickly in spring; every day it was wet in Radiant Garden. So when the weatherman forecasted an entire week of no rain in April, everyone was surprised. It didn't take long for all the chatter at school the change from the latest gossips to "What are you going to do after class?" or "Want to go to the beach this weekend?" or "Let's go to a concert at the amphitheater!" and such.

As for me, the cessation of rain was a welcomed relief. The SOS Brigade clubroom had become a sauna with the rain; and with the heater on, all of us managed to work up a sweat just by being in the room for ten minutes. Stupid humidity.

Today, it was no different as the four of us sat in the clubroom doing mundane things; Sora had yet to show up. Kairi sat on her chair as she knitted cheerfully. Naminé was drawing in the corner as usual. And Riku and I had started a game of Yu-Gi-Oh with the two decks that Sora had managed to get a hold of. How or where he got them I have ceased to try to ask; he never answered me. It was a nice change from the usual board games to say the least.

Halfway into our third duel, the door suddenly slammed open as Sora came bounding in cheerfully with his cell phone in his hand. He had obviously been on the phone.

"Hey, everyone!" he greeted before sitting down at the swivel chair that was the leader's seat.

"Oh, coffee coming right up," said Kairi with a smile. Having great enthusiasm for making coffee, the red-haired time traveler jumped up and went over to the coffee machine.

"I just got off the phone with the electronic store that had sponsored our movie," said Sora as he pulled of the heavy woolen jacket. "It appears that he forgot to put a dehumidifier in storage, so he wanted to know if we wanted it for free."

I stared at him suspiciously.

"Hey, don't look at me like I'm some criminal," he said defensively, as if he was actually offended by my glare. "I had no hand in this."

I'll believe you when pigs fly.

"So what?"

"I want you to go get it," he grinned as he took the mug of coffee from Kairi.

"Which sponsor is this?"

"The one at the marketplace."

"Let me get this straight," I said, feeling a headache coming up. "You want me to walk down the hill, wait for the bus, take the bus for twenty minutes, get the dehumidifier, and lug it all the way back?"

"Yup!"

"Why?"

"'Cause you have more free time than the rest of us!"

I looked at him with the most annoyed look I could muster. He was, of course, unaffected by this.

"Go already. Get it before the guy changes his mind!"

"With a sigh, I got up and put on my black overcoat.

"Oh, here," said Kairi as she wrapped her pink scarf around me. "It's cold."

"Thanks."

"Get going already!" Sora yelled with exasperation. He really wants that dehumidifier eh?

"Alright, alright," I replied before leaving the sauna-like room with a brief wave.

I stood outside of the room for a short moment, shivering in the coldness before sighing yet again.

"Might as well get this over with." I began my way out of the building leisurely and onto the dry grounds underneath the grey sky. Even though the weatherman had guaranteed only 10 chance rain this morning, the ominous clouds suggested otherwise.

"And I'm without my umbrella," I muttered with annoyance.

I paused at the top of the hill leading downward, looking into the distance city of Radiant Garden. Sounds of distant traffic met my ears while the turbulent clouds threatened to pour down. Sighing once again, I began my journey.

As I walked, waited for the bus, and rode the bus, I couldn't help but think back on the past year, starting from the day when I met Sora for the very first time. I wonder how my past self thought about me now. Would I have been surprised by such a change? Would I have renewed my interest in the abnormal even before I met Sora? What would've I thought?

Then, there are the others.

Naminé, the data-human interface with the ability to change the world, could have potentially overthrown Sora as the "god" of this world, but she doesn't. In fact, her boss doesn't allow for it. Perhaps if she had obtained absolute power, then the world would've been a boring place. The data creation would have been dull and uninteresting. It would be unworthy of investigation. Of course, if Naminé was in charge, I doubt the Data Integration Thought Entity would exist. I know I wouldn't let my boss exist when I have supreme power. But that's just asking for too much.

Kairi, the originally trembling girl who was as skittish as a mouse, had managed to overcome her skittishness and become one of the most understanding people I've ever met, though she might be overprotective of us all. I wonder sometimes if it was her future self that was giving her now/past self orders to observe Sora. If that's the case, how would the younger Kairi react if she knew that was the case? Since the older Kairi never mentioned the fact that she knew that it was her future self that was giving her orders, then I doubt the younger Kairi knows.

Finally, Riku. I don't think I'll ever get accustomed to the haughty smirks and mysterious expressions the guy makes. His willingness to go along with everything Sora said and did just annoyed me even more. I know you're supposed to just observe the guy, but at least act like you're a normal person with common sense! But his powers are given by Sora, so I guess he has reason to act grateful and turn an eye away from Sora's inane activities.

As I walked toward the electronics shop after getting off the bus, I thought back on the days when each of the three others had revealed their identities to me. The memory brought a smile to my face, especially the little date Kairi had asked me out on.

* * *

"Ah, Roxas," said the electronics shop owner upon seeing me.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Kingsley," I greeted. "I'm here to pick up the dehumidifier."

"I thought so. Sora mentioned that you'll be picking it up," the man said with a smile.

"How's the business been doing?"

"It's been fine," he replied as he set down the box containing the dehumidifier at my feet. "Not as well as I'd like, but the movie's brought in more business than before."

"That's good to know," I replied with an understanding smile.

"Tell Sora that when he makes a sequel, be sure to let me know. I'd like to sponsor that one too."

"Ah, sure." I wasn't sure if Sora would be interested in making another movie. He's really fickle like that after all.

"Are you going to be fine to carry it back by yourself?" he asked me with concern.

"I'll be fine," I replied, scratching the back of my head humbly. "Thank you very much for this."

"It's not a problem. Stop by once in a while, I'd like to hear how the SOS Brigade's doing."

"Sure thing," I said. "Good-bye, Mr. Kingsley."

"Take care, Roxas."

I picked up the brown box and noted that it was pretty heavy. Thank god I would be taking the bus for the majority of the trip.

"Yo, Roxas," came Axel's voice. I stopped and turned around to see him and Demyx walking up to me, each of them had a bag of what smelled like popcorn chicken. And, of course, Demyx would have a large cup of tapioca milk tea in his hand if he had popcorn chicken.

"Hey," I replied, placing the box down. No sense in wasting energy to hold the box up if I'm just going to be standing around talking. "Just came from Tapioca Café?"

"Yeah," said Demyx as he took a sip of his sweet milk drink.

"What are you doing?" asked Axel as he raised an eyebrow at the brown box containing the dehumidifier.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" I replied drolly.

"Sora's got you on a short leash," he commented.

"That's only the second time you've said that," I replied with a smirk.

"At least I'll never get caught doing errands for a classmate."

"Just wait until you have a girlfriend of your own," said Demyx teasingly.

The red-haired teen scoffed. "I'll make her, or him, do all the work for me," he retorted.

"Good luck with that," I commented. The three of us laughed.

"Anyways, Demyx and I are headed to the theater; you should come join us after your errand."

"What's playing?"

"Snowfall."

"Snowfall? Sounds like a chick movie," I replied with a raised eyebrow. Why are my friends watching a movie titled like that!?

"It's actually a horror movie," said Demyx. "It's supposed to be pretty good. At least according to the critics."

"So, how about it?" My red-haired friend asked.

"Ugh," I groaned. "No thanks. Especially not after that disgusting movie we watched last week at your place."

Axel gave me a mocked hurt expression. "Oh come on, 'Zombie Heaven' couldn't have been _that_ bad."

Demyx gave a laugh. "Actually, Axel. I'd have to agree with Roxas; that was pretty gruesome _and_ pretty clichéd."

"Che, you just don't have the stomach for it."

"Maybe you added something to my dinner without me noticing," I joked.

Axel scoffed. "If I did, you'd wake up with a sore bum the next morning." Demyx and I both blushed.

"Axel!" the Melodious Nocturne sputtered as he laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want, ass," I smirked. "Don't drop your lighter when you get scared."

The red-haired teen glared at me as Demyx and I laughed. Axel had a habit of playing with his dad's lighter when he gets nervous or scared. He almost caught his pants on fire when he accidentally dropped the lighter because he was so scared. I heard this from another student who also came from Radiant Garden Middle School, mind you.

"Anyways, I'll catch you guys later," I said with a grin. "Let's hang out this weekend if you're both free."

"Sure," said Demyx.

"You sure there won't be any projects with Sora?" teased Axel.

"I'll _make_ him not have any plans, geez." I rolled my eyes at them before picking up the dehumidifier. Axel snickered, but stopped when he saw me glaring at him.

"I'll stop. Later, Roxas," he said, patting me on the back.

"See ya," I returned.

"Later, Roxas."

We went our separate ways.

* * *

"Goddamn it," I muttered with annoyance. The bus had just left, which means that I get to wait for another thirty minutes underneath the bus stop shelter waiting for the next one.

With a sigh of resignation, I placed the box at my feet and sat down at the bench. With nothing else to do, I began to think back more on the year.

As much as I wanted to forget Zexion Walters, I knew that it would never happen. First of all, he was the one who tried to killed me, then nearly succeeded in the altered world. I wonder what would happen if I did die. Would Sora be so shaken that he abandons his beliefs in the supernatural? Would he have remade the world when I did die and Naminé, Kairi, Riku, the Data Integration Thought Entity, the older Kairi, the Agency, and everything else would disappear? Or would he come to realize his own powers and end up remaking me?

But once you make someone, you can't remake them right? You can't recycle data, right? God, I'm starting to think in Naminé terms.

I shook my head and saw a six-year-old kid carrying a Struggle bat as he talked animatedly to his father.

Struggle. Man, I wished I had won that tournament. But, I guess fate had other plans for me. I guess it all means that I'm not destined for greatness as a Struggle competitor. I would've preferred to represent the Radiant Garden region in the World Series of Sports. To think that I was actually fairly close to achieving greatness! Curse you fate!

Meh, no use doting on the melancholic past. This is just as depressing as thinking about my near deaths at the hands of the insane Zexion.

Sometimes, I wonder if it's fine with me to be the only actual down-to-Earth member in the SOS Brigade. Sure, everyone except Sora has common sense, but seriously, how normal can you be when you have special powers? I'm just a normal high school student who has been thrown to the dogs here!

I don't have powers like Naminé, manipulating data and creating a brand new world in a snap like she did some two months ago. I can't type as fast as she could on the computer. Nor do I have the ability to stop time and in general, have all the powers of a god, but is not a god. I guess she technically couldn't make things out of nothingness. Only Sora has that power. Or something like that.

I'm not a time traveler like Kairi. Well, okay, I've time traveled, but that was with Kairi. And even though I would not like to travel back in time again, somehow I feel like the future will be full of me traveling between times with both the younger and the older Kairi to the past to fix the future and stuff. Mental note, remember to bring motion sickness pills. Even though time traveling is a fascinating idea, I figured that I might as well leave it to the "experts".

I'm certainly not a psychic like Riku. Or does his power make him more of a mage; though mage is such an archaic word. Whatever he is, he has powers under certain circumstances at certain times. I guess it is Sora's way to keep the supernatural things in check. Of course, I would love to see what would happen if Sora had dreamt up supernatural powers do exist in normal space and not just in Closed space. Would there be an all out war amongst the regions? Would the world become like those fantasy cartoon or anime about a fantasy world and all that?

Too many hypothetical questions, and the prospect of testing the hypotheses is too daunting. I think I'll abandon that train of inane babble and reground myself.

The bus arrived just as I finished my inner debate and I got on the bus with my heavy box. I'm going to kill Sora when I get back.

Even though I was tired and wanted to sleep, I knew that if I did, I would completely miss my stop. So, I decided to think more about the past two months, which were surprisingly dull and uneventful. The most insanity that Sora had decided to do was to actually carry out the city-wide search that he had originally planned for us last fall. I, of course, had to pay for everyone's drinks because somehow regardless of how early I get there, the others are already there. Are they mind readers or something!?

In any case, we had split up into two groups and I managed to group up with Naminé for the morning and Riku in the afternoon. Riku had taken me to another Closed space that afternoon while I took Naminé to the library and helped her get a library card. I think she has a new place to go now besides her apartment, the convenience store that's around the corner from her place, and the ice cream shop.

At the end of the day, we found nothing as expected. Sora had glared at me before we all dispersed; obviously blaming me for the day's lack of discoveries. After the others had left, he said that he and I were to review the day's behavior and routes the following Monday. Then, he stalked off with a childish frown on his face. It made him look quite cute, actually.

Ironically, that following Monday was Valentine's Day. And Sora, being the popular mysterious guy that he is, was bombarded with love notes, presents, and girls throwing themselves at him. He never got a chance to talk to me and had left the school after the third period break. I have never seen the poor boy look so flustered before.

The bus came to a stop and I got off at the stop for Radiant Garden High. The clouds continued rolling ominously above me, but so far, they haven't released their watery bullets down on the city. For that, I am relieved.

Of course, staring at the upward slope to the campus did nothing to comfort me.

With a sigh, I began my slow ascent up the hill, stopping occasionally to adjust my grip on the box lest it slip out of my hands and slide down the graveled road. That would not be a good thing for my sanity.

After what seemed like thirty minutes, I finally managed to reach the top of the hill just as a soft drizzle began raining down on me.

Damn you, sky!

I hastened my pace toward the locker building, cursing as I went along. Curse you clouds. Curse you rain. Curse you steps. Curse you stupid glass door. Curse you box. To say I was bitter would be a grave understatement. I was cranky and tired as hell.

Finally, I managed to get indoors and placed the box at my feet again. I wiped my forehead with my jacket just as Hayner came into view.

"Yo, Roxas," he greeted. He looked at my flushed face and then at the box at my feet. "Running errands for Sora?"

I nodded silently.

"Here," he said as he threw me a small towel. "Dry your hair and have Kairi hand it back to me tomorrow."

"Uh, thanks," I said, eying the white towel suspiciously.

"My mom washed it last night. I forgot there's no P.E. this week, so don't worry about it."

"Oh, okay," I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Anyways, catch you later."

"Thanks man," I began drying off my hair.

"No problem." The second year teen then left the building whistling "real Emotion" song.

With my hair semi-dry, I was a little less annoyed and thus began my way back to the clubroom. Of course, the set of stairs before I would reach the clubroom only served to aggravate me and the little refreshing session I had at the lockers quickly evaporated like my sweat on a hot summer day.

At long last, I braced myself and opened the door into the humid, hot room.

And saw only Naminé in the room reading.

"Where did the other people go?" I asked Naminé. The reading girl was back to her habits of ignoring people while she read, but she did point out of the window for a brief moment before turning her attention back to the novel at hand.

"I see," I commented tiredly. The hot humid room only made me sleepier. So, eager to make the room dry, I quickly unpacked the dehumidifier and put it to work. I could feel the effects instantly.

"Ahhh…" I sighed with relief and looked around. I felt like drinking coffee, yet I felt too lazy to make my own. My eyes drooped and I knew that my body was telling me to go to sleep. So, I shall follow my body's commands and lay my head down on my crossed arms on the table.

And closed my eyes.

* * *

A shadow fell over me as I slowly returned from the land of sleep.

"Gah!" someone yelled. It sounded rather loud to me, but that's probably because the yell had been close to my ear. I blinked open my sleepy eyes and saw Sora standing over me with a startled look on his face. He looked like he had just been caught red-handed or something.

"It's just you?" I yawned, rubbing my eyes.

"What do you mean, it's just me!? Do you have a problem with that?" Sora retorted with annoyance once he got past his initial surprise. He stalked away.

"Not really…" I rubbed my face. "You didn't draw on my face did you?"

"Like I would do something childish like that. I'm fourteen years old for god's sake!" Technically we're still adolescent…

"Where's everyone else?"

"They all left already," he replied. "And it didn't look like you were waking up any time soon."

"So you opted to stay behind?" I asked, feeling rather warm within to know that Sora actually cared.

"I can't help it!" he said. "I can't lock up with you still sleeping." Right, Sora, just keep making excuses. "Besides, it's raining!"

I looked out of the window and sure enough, it was raining. Pretty hard too. Curse you weatherman!

Sora held his arm out.

"Give it back."

I looked at him with confusion.

"My jacket!" he exclaimed with a huff.

"Oh," I replied sleepily, noticing for the first time that his jacket was placed over my shoulders. I pulled the jacket off, noticing that another jacket that wasn't mine laid underneath Sora's. I wonder whose it was. Oh well, no sense boggling my still groggy mind trying to figure out whose it was. Chances are, it was probably Kairi's.

"Anyways, everyone's already left awhile ago," said Sora as he put on his jacket and rain boots. "We should get going too."

"Ah," I said, hanging the jacket on the chair. I ruffled my hair as I looked out at the raining sky. "Man, this sucks. I don't have an umbrella."

"One should be enough for the both of us," Sora said as he thrust a black umbrella towards me. I jumped slightly and noticed that Sora seemed rather shy now. He looked away as he presented the umbrella and I smiled before taking the umbrella from him.

I put on my overcoat again and the two of us locked up. The cold air did nothing to dampen my well rested spirits.

As we walked down the hill, I couldn't help but feel warm and fuzzy inside. Walking side by side with Sora sharing an umbrella. I guess I could thank the rain for creating such a scenario for me and Sora.

"Hold it closer to me, I'm getting wet over here," Sora complained.

"It's well on your side," I said with slight amusement as I looked at him. A white tag on the inside of the umbrella caught my eye and I looked at it. I must've squawked, because Sora looked at me like I had sprouted horns on my head.

"This isn't your umbrella," I commented. "It says 'for faculty use'."

"So what? It's school property; no reason why students can't use it. If you want to walk home in the rain without the umbrella, then I won't share it with you!" With a laugh, Sora grabbed the umbrella from me and ran off ahead, leaving me in the rain.

I stood there in the rain with a look of exasperation on my face. Sora will always be Sora. He didn't even thank me for getting the dehumidifier. Oh well.

"Oy, wait up!" I shouted as I ran after him. He stopped and turned around with a grin before sticking his tongue out playfully at me.

Maybe I've already gotten my thanks for getting the dehumidifier. To be able to spend time with Sora like a normal teenager and not have to worry about Sora's supernatural abilities is well worth the errand.

For the first time in eight months, I felt at peace and appreciative of the world around me that revolved around the eccentric boy named Sora Kazano.

* * *

_Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belong to Square Enix. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya belongs to Tanigawa Nagaru. Yada yada yada._

_A/N: Thus concludes _The Melancholy of Sora Kazano._ I hope you all have enjoyed this fanfic and thank you for reading. The sequel_ The Intrigues of Sora Kazano_ is in the planning stages right now, but will deal with the second year of the SOS Brigade at Radiant Garden High. Once again, thank you all for reading and supporting me. And to my reviewers, many thanks. If you have any comments or concerns, feel free to put in a review. Until _The Intrigues of Sora Kazano_, this is Tsukisamu Sayako signing off._


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